Faximum Ride: accidentally in love
by Julie AV
Summary: post MR4 no MR5.max comes up with a way to destroy itex for good.all goes well, for a time. what will happen when something goes wrong&all lives are at stake? R&R to find out, right here.story has major FAXness.all characters in character at all times.R
1. Chapter 1

**FAXIMUM RIDE: ACCIDENTALLY IN LOVE**

**(A/N ok, this is the first chappie. and it sux. max and fang are way ooc, but i am not fixing it until i have 3 chapers already written, and saved waiting to be posted. i know that personally i would rather have a new chapter then a fixed old chapter when i have already read that chapter. obvously it isnt too bad if i am still reading right?so i will fix the ooc'ness soon enough ok? please read AND review for my sotry ok? flames are welcome as long as that is your opinion. thank you!**

**Favorite Basketball Shorts**

Max's pov

So now we are in New Mexico, and after Antarctica, there was a small problem adjusting to the heat. But it was so worth it; now we get to wear shorts and tank tops every day.

Ok, I skipped some important details. I spoke to congress about global warming, and then went to the grand opening of Lerner school for gifted children - which the Flock had to leave. Why? You may ask. Well to be honest, my voice told me to. Yes, I, Maximum Ride, have a voice in my head and yes, I listen to it. When I don't listen, bad things happen to either me or my family. So back to the point, after rushing out before my speech to congratulate Lerner's School, my voice told me to go to New Mexico.

Here we are in the largest New Mexican state park getting ready to go to sleep. We (Nudge, Fang, Iggy, Gazzy or The Gasman, don't ask why, Angel and I) are all still hungry.

Dumpster diving is kind of a normal thing when you're on the run like we are. The Flock is running from mad scientists called Whitecoats, who want to experiment on us to see how much pain we can handle or how long we can go without eating. Or sometimes just to see how many erasers it takes to bring us down. But so far in worst case scenario if you're Iggy, try to 'improve your night vision' through surgery and end up making you permanently blind. Yes Iggy is blind. So we are running from them for obvious reasons.

So after flying here - we aren't called the Flock for no reason, we can fly - we are going to sleep in the trees here tonight. Why not sleep in a hotel; well because we don't have time for a job so we don't have that much money and if we got a job, Itex would know about it and they control the scientists who are out to get us. The scientists who created us are now out to kill us. We are 98% human and 2%, you guessed it, bird. Ever since the Flock escaped four years ago, with the help of one of their very own Whitecoats, I might add, they have been trying to find and kill us. Pleasant isn't it?

Iggy is taking first watch. Iggy, Fang, and I all take watches because we are the oldest at fourteen. Nudge is eleven, Gazzy is eight, and Angel is six. I have been the leader since I was like twelve (That is when Jeb, the Whitecoat who helped us escape, abandoned us and when back to being the bad guy). I am the oldest by four months so that's why I am the leader. Anyhow, yes Iggy is blind, and you're right again! He's got first watch. He has the best hearing out of any of us so if anyone comes within a mile, Ig will hear them.

To shorten this, Iggy is blind and has super hearing (more on that later). I can fly at speeds exceeding 200 mph. Gasman has umm… atomic farts and can mimic voices perfectly once he has heard them. It is really funny, unless he is mimicking you, then it is just annoying. Angel can read and control minds. And talk to fish. I have no idea why the white coats gave her that but whatever. She can also change her appearance to that of a bird. The bird is the same size as her though. So it is about the size of a nine year old. We all look about three years older than we are. Nudge can touch something and sense the people that touched it. It is hard to describe but basically she can sense the leftover vibrations. Also, if she wants to, Nudge can make metal objects come to her. And Fang, well his gift fits him because if he is still, then he becomes invisible until he moves again. Total, our dog, can talk. He is another experiment. Akiela, Total's girlfriend, is just a normal dog. But don't ever let Total hear you say she is normal because he will tell you that she is extraordinarily beautiful and very smart and special. So that is for the most part our extra things, on top of being able to fly, that is.

The downside to New Mexico is the heat. It is probably around 90 degrees and it is 11 o'clock at night. Sweatpants as pajamas are not working.

Arrg! Now I have to get out of bed so I can change into shorts. I am pretty sure that I have two pairs of shorts. We just went shopping. One pair is jean shorts and the other is a pair of sofee shorts.

"Stop," Iggy says in a hushed but fierce tone.

Shoot, I forgot that Iggy would hear me but not know that it was me. I turned around and took a step towards him saying, "Iggy it is just me Max, don't worry," and I reached for his shoulder.

His hand shot out so fast to grab my wrist so that before I even touched his shoulder, he had my wrist. As he was reaching for my other hand he said "I said STOP."

I took my free hand and touched his hand that was holding my wrist in a vice like grip.

"Oh sorry Max," Iggy said as soon as my hand touched his. That was another thing about Iggy, when you lose one of your senses - in Iggy's case sight - the other four senses are heightened. Particularly (again in Iggy's case) his touch and hearing. He could hear pulses for pretty far away and just by touching you he knows who you are - if you were introduced before or if he had touched you before. He can match fingerprints to people and pores of people's skin to people. Weird, but useful.

"It's ok Ig, at least we know you're not sleeping on your watch," I whisper-laughed at him.

"Yup, at least you know," he said, trying to hold back his laughter.

"I am just getting some shorts to change into."

"Umm… ok… you…umm… do that," Iggy said while 'looking' at his feet.

"What's wrong?"

"What, umm, nothing, I think you should get to sleep, you have second watch."

So with that I went to my bag to get some shorts. Right now I didn't care which pair I pulled out, either would work. Actually, scratch that, I only have one pair, the last eraser fight we got in they were shredded when an eraser clawed my butt. Luckily I didn't get cut too bad but the shorts were trash. I guess that left me with my navy blue soffees. As I reached in my bag I felt a hand on each of my shoulders. The hands were very gentle, yet rough feeling at the same time. They were too gentle to be an enemy's or I would have turned around and done a roundhouse kick to their face. I assumed it was Iggy so I said,

"Ig, it's just me remember?"

"Oh," was my only reply. Based on that I knew it was Fang, the master of ½ sentences when forced to talk and one word replies when willingly talking.

"Fang, I'm just trying to find my shorts cause its way to hot to be sleeping in sweats," I said to him.

"You mean the ones that got the butt shredded by and eraser, or the ones Iggy and Gazzy used to light a bomb from a 'safe' distance?"

Holy cow! God I love his voice, Bad Max! Don't think that. Wait what? Bomb, my shorts, Gazzy, Iggy? I am going to kill them.

"You're kidding right? I do still have at least one pair of shorts don't I?" I asked.

"No."

"Crap. When did they make the bomb, I need to confiscate their stuff?"

"Uh today, when you and the girls were by the stream taking a bath," Fang said looking at his feet. Good he should feel guilty; he shouldn't have let them do that. And yes you heard that right. Nudge, Angel, and I were taking a bath in the stream today. It was cold but now I feel so much better.

"Great, sweats it is," I wanted to yell, but I whispered.

"You can borrow some of my shorts if you want," Fang said "'till we can get to a store," he added after a moment.

"Umm, Thanks."

"Be right back."

About three minutes later he came back with some black (as usual) basketball shorts. His favorite black basketball shorts.

"Thanks again… Umm, not that I don't appreciate it, but why your favorite pair?"

"Two reasons: they're the cleanest, and you're my favorite."

I just laughed thinking that he was being sarcastic because that was not something he would say. He looked hurt, not that his face betrayed any emotion, but deep in his eyes I thought I saw a flash of hurt.

"Wow you really do have a heart. You're most favorite shorts and the cleanest ones. Especially when you don't know when you're getting them back…I might just claim them as mine." I added that last part just to tick him off. I wouldn't really keep them unless for revenge, if he did something really bad, or if they were really comfy.

"That is fine; you can keep them if you want. You are worth a lot more to me then those shorts or anything else are."

With that he walked away after saying "G-night" and stacking fists with me.

I wandered over to my 'bed' only to not fall asleep because I was thinking about what Fang had said to me.

'See you do have feelings for him' my voice said after I thought 'maybe he does like me and everything I've done wasn't a waste.'

'No voice I don't' I thought back, careful not to say anything out loud.

'You can deny it to yourself all you want, but Angel and I know the truth.'

"No you don't!" I said, apparently out loud, as in everyone could hear it. Iggy looked at me like 'what is your problem' and Fang sat bolt upright looking at me with a trace of a smile on his face.

"Voice?" Fang asked, not like I was crazy because he knows I really do have a voice in my head.

"Yup," was my reply.

"What did it say?" he said doing a quick 360 to look for erasers and make sure we were safe.

"Nothing," I answered with a little too much passion for the current conversation.

By this point Angel was up and she was giggling. I shot her a look that said 'tell Fang or any of the others and you will be in major trouble.'

Her only reply was, "Don't worry I won't _say_ anything."

Suddenly Fang got a full blown grin (a first) on his face, you know, like the kind that lights up my world.

"Wow Max, aren't you supposed to be sleeping?" Then he blushed. Yes, Fang, the Fang, the one and only Mr. I Will Never Show Emotion, blushed. That was the first time I have ever seen him blush.

"Yeah I was," was my very brilliant and well thought out response.

"Never mind, goodnight."

"Uhh, Max, your watch," Iggy said quietly a couple of minutes later.

"Okay, thanks," I whispered back.

"Hey, is something going on with you and Fang?" Iggy asked in an embarrassed yet curious tone.

I wish. "No," I answered.

"Oh, because he likes you; I'm not supposed to say anything but…he asked me to watch the younger ones if he got the courage to ask you on a date and you said yes. He…"

Iggy didn't get to finish because right then he was slammed to the ground by a very angry Fang.

"You promised not to tell," Fang said right before he threw a very good - or in Iggy's case bad - punch at Iggy's face.

"She would have figured it out sooner or later with your 'hints'… now get off me!" Iggy replied while spitting out some blood.

"Sorry," Fang said sounding very un-sorry. Then he turned to me with his eyes on the ground, "So what do you think?"

"I think you just punched Iggy in the face, said a very sarcastic 'sorry' right after slamming him into the ground," I lied. The truth was I was thinking about what Iggy was going to say before he was 'interrupted'.

"We both know that is not what I meant but, sorry Ig, but you did break your promise."

"Forget if Fang, but it didn't look like you were gonna tell her straight out that you liked her so I…intervened," Iggy replied, giving me time to think of an answer.

"And you Max?" Fang asked and I knew he wanted to know if I liked him or if I would say yes to a date.

"That depends on…" I paused because so far this was all I had as far as an answer went.

"On what Max?" he said gently after my pause.

"One, what Iggy was going to say, two, if what he did say is true and, three, why didn't you tell me yourself?" There, that was a good answer.

"Oh," was all he said.

"Fang, are you going to answer my question or is that not in your plans?" I said, slightly frustrated at the fact that I had to show that I was interested in whether or not he liked me.

"Question one is for Ig not me. Two, yes it is true, all of it. And three, I didn't want to push you." He glanced at me after that last part, and then quickly looked back at the ground surrounding his feet.

"What makes you think you would be pushing me to do anything, like you could even if you tried," I asked slightly baffled.

"I thought you still liked Sam from West Virginia."

"Wow, um, no I don't like Sam. I …"

"Guys shut up!" Iggy interrupted me then he added, "I think I hear something, and I feel it to."

A couple of moments later I heard it to. The sound of footsteps. Footsteps of very heavy things. Lots of very heavy things. Very heavy things called Erasers.

"Everyone up, the erasers found us! Fang, put Total in your backpack, you can't fight if you're carrying him!" I yelled. I instantly regretted it because the erasers knew that we knew that they were coming so rather than try to sneak slowly and quietly through the forest, they were full out running. But I was also very proud. My flock was up in seconds. Their blankets were folded and packed within ten seconds of me waking them up.

"I can make my own decisions and I do not appreciate you assuming that I want in Fang's backpack," Total said. Why argue now? We just needed to get out of here fast. So I did the only thing I could. I glared, like the glare that is usually reserved for Ari, Jeb, and the other Whitecoats. "Luckily I want to go with Fang, so I will," Total added as soon as he saw my face. He hopped in Fang's backpack.

"Up and away, now!" I said in a slightly louder than normal voice.

We were 100 feet up before the first eraser was even in the clearing. But of course being me, life isn't that easy.

About twenty erasers were in the air waiting for us, including…Omega!


	2. Stay with me

Stay with Me

_We were 100 feet up before the first eraser was even in the clearing. But of course being me, life isn't that easy._

_About 50 erasers were in the air waiting for us…including Omega?!_

_----------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Max's pov

No that wasn't Omega. It couldn't be because one, Omega didn't have wings and this look-a- like did and two, this guy was less perfect looking. Not that I thought Omega was hot, he was just perfect, perfect looking, not perfect. The only guy even close to perfect was Fang. And he was perfect looking too. NO! STOP IT MAX, CONCENTRATE! I mentally yelled at myself.

"So who's the new guy?" I asked with what sounded like fake, sarcastic curiosity. In all reality I did want to know because I feel that it is important to know what you're up against.

"I am the new Omega," said Omega 2.

"Um-hum," I said with a bored expression on my face. 'Angel,' I thought.

'Yes,' she thought back.

'Tell everyone but Fang to get out of here, fly two miles North and the six and a half miles Northeast. Find the closest clearing, and then wait there. Don't come back for us either,' I thought, hoping that she would listen. I didn't want any of my Flock near Omega, much less the updated Omega 2. But I knew Fang wouldn't leave me so I decided to just deal with him being there with me.

'But Maaax,' she thought.

'There are only about 40 or so, we can handle them. Now, do it!' I thought hoping she wouldn't notice how I said that there were fewer erasers than there really were.

Just then the flock, minus Fang and I, started flying North.

'Thanks Ange, can you please tell Fang to stay here then hurry up and go?' I didn't expect a response I just wanted Angel to go before the fight started.

While I was distracted with 'talking' to Angel an eraser jumped, err… ok came quickly at me, or flew as fast as his wings could carry him at me. Whatever, I'm not sure how to describe it but basically he lunged at me.

He thought I wasn't watching but I was still somewhat there so I dodged his attack and punched his shoulder, hoping to disable him from punching me with that arm. Fortunately for me his arm was flexed. Now for those of you out there who have never been punched in a flexed muscle by an angry Max, it is very painful.

The eraser fell down about 20 feet but surprisingly didn't come back at me. He went for Fang instead. That was okay by me because I know that Fang was a big boy and could take care of it himself.

I did a quick 360 making sure that all the Flock members (other than Fang and myself) had left like I told them to. That was when I noticed two things, the first being that Omega 2 was watching me. The second being that no erasers interrupted my 360.

That was because they were surrounding Fang.

Not even I can handle 50 erasers with a dog in my backpack. Shoot! I forgot to give Total to Iggy. He is in Fang's backpack. He wasn't feeling very good. Lovesick, according to Nudge. He missed Akiela, his newfound girlfriend. He met her when we were in Antarctica working to un-do global warming. Now she is staying with my mom, Dr. Martinez, so we could visit her often. Total hasn't seen her in a little over a week, so he misses her, which explains why he was being so quiet.

I sped towards the erasers that were surrounding Fang and Total. I must admit, I was more worried about Fang. The erasers didn't know that Total was in there, so they weren't trying to slice him. That meant that if Fang stayed safe and Total stayed quiet, he was safe.

I vaguely realized that Omega 2 should be helping fight; God knows he is good at it, but right now I was going to try to keep those erasers from tearing up Fang.

Omega 2 must have realized what I was going to do because he grabbed my wrist before I even thought he would be close enough to try. Man, when did he get so fast? I mentally thought. The voice must have realized that now would be a bad time to distract me because he didn't say anything. I figured I might as well kick Omega 2's butt then save Fang's very sexy butt. Wait forget I said that because I didn't. Wait what, what did I say?

Sounds easy enough right? Not so much. They had obviously made some upgrades other than just giving Omega 2 wings. For one thing when I stuck my hand in front of his face and quickly waved it, his hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. Then he snapped all the fingers on my right hand with very little effort on his part. They made a sick cracking noise as the joints broke.

'Pain is just a message,' I thought to myself, 'and I will check my messages later.'

'_That is right Max; you are going to have to have to ignore a lot of messages during this fight,'_ my voice, or as I like to call it Jeb, said to me.

'Great, that's encouraging,' I thought with a bitter tone back to Jeb.

'_Yes Max, you will get hurt in this fight, but you must keep fighting,' _Jeb said with what I am sure he thought was an encouraging tone.

'Whatever.'

Just then I felt a fist connect with my jaw. It hurt, even after I tried to block out the message of pain. Ouch. That would leave a mark.

I must have spaced out when I was talking with the voice. I tried with my injured hand to distract Omega 2 with another quick wave of my hand in front of his face. Then I planned to do a roundhouse kick to his ribs. Again the 'distraction' didn't distract him; he just grabbed my calf and twisted me through the air.

'What's going on?! Jeb I thought he couldn't track fast objects?' I asked in desperation.

'_He can now. They have updated him.' _The voice said back.

'Why didn't you warn me?' I thought angrily.

'_You wouldn't have listened maximum. You would have tried it anyways. Find his weakness. I cannot help you,' _The voice said.

He was right, I would have tried anyways, but I was still ticked that he didn't tell me that Omega 2 was even stronger than the original.

At first I thought I could win but, after a few minutes of me attacking and him blocking, I began to get tired. And he noticed.

"Getting tired are we Maxie? Then just come with me and you won't get hurt." Omega 2 spoke for the first time since we started fighting.

"Nope, I can do this all day," I replied with more conviction than I felt. With that I aimed a high kick at his chin.

He caught my foot with apparent ease. As he did so he slowly twisted my ankle while holding my calf. He twisted and twisted until he heard, and I felt, my ankle pop out of place.

Hating myself for doing it I looked around for Fang to see if he noticed me getting my butt kicked.

When I saw him my heart dropped. He was fighting, but only 5 or 6 erasers were down. The rest were attacking him at the exact same time. Meaning he could only fend one off at a time. He was losing. But on the bright side, they didn't seem to be after Fang. The erasers he didn't manage to block were not tearing him to pieces like they could have been; they simply were scratching him enough to hurt him, but not kill him from blood loss. But the fact remained, he was losing.

And I needed him.

Yes I just said I needed someone's help. Not just anyone's help but Fang's help.

Just as I was making my epiphany a foot hit my chest knocking my breath away. I forced myself to take little breaths to get my lungs working again.

While I did so I folded my wings in some so that I was dropping to the ground. This way I was out of Omega 2's reach. Or so I thought.

Until he dropped with me.

"Yes Maxie, keep going down. That will just make it easier for me to kill you," Omega 2 spoke again.

With that I shot up into the sky. I didn't want Omega 2 to think he had any control at all over me.

But he did. Before I was even 10 feet about him, I felt him grab my dislocated ankle and yank down.

I hissed in pain.

He and I both knew I was going to lose if I didn't use my super speed to get out of there. But I couldn't leave, Fang was still here and he was not in the position to just up and leave.

So I did the only thing I could. I flew behind Omega 2 and pushed his wings together. That had always worked before. The eraser, or in this case person, would get there wing muscles pulled and would plummet to the ground, and then hit the ground before they could open there wings again. I had forbidden us from doing this to each other because the flock does_ not_ kill unless absolutely necessary.

But not Omega 2, of course not. Apparently he know what was supposed to happen because he came up behind me so fast I didn't even know what happened. Until my wings got a searing pain in them and I started falling.

By the time I was able to get my wings out it was too late. I was only 30 feet from the ground when I was finally able to fully extend my wings. I hit the top of the forest trees, hard. My wings were still open. They seemed to hit every branch on every tree until I couldn't fall anymore; I hit the ground. The tree branches slowed me down thankfully but it still hurt so bad that I couldn't move.

When Omega 2 landed he said, "It's a shame you have to get hurt Max; your body is so much more desirable when it isn't covered in blood and bruises. If only you were willing to come with me." As he was speaking he walked slowly towards me.

As soon as he got closer to me he kicked my ribs extremely hard. Even for a mutant kick it was hard. I know I felt at least three ribs crack. Then he rolled me on my back, well tried to. I obviously refused.

Now don't take this the wrong way but Avian hybrids bones are hallow. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to stay airborne. So they do not break easy but they do still break. So if a certain someone named Omega 2 were to fly up ten feet in the air and then drop, and just before hitting the ground (or in this case my un-injured leg) stamp his feet, our bones would break. Just like my right shin did. I heard a disgusting snap, and that snap just happened to be my leg. It took a second for the pain to hit but when it did, I screamed. Way to loud. Great, I bet the whole flock heard that and are coming back for us. That would be bad because they would defiantly get hurt if you put them up against Omega 2.

Omega 2 kicked my stomach again. I curled up into a little ball in the hopes of protecting my vital parts, head, lungs, and heart, from being damaged further. Like that would work. Omega 2 continued to kick me like I was a kicking bag that had just magically kicked him back and he wanted revenge. I bit my lip to stop myself from screaming out in pure agony.

'_Max you have to fight back, don't just take this, FIGHT!'_ the voice yelled at me, for the first time since I can remember, it showed emotion. That emotion was anger and sadness. Ok fine, so that is two emotions but still.

I didn't bother responding. I risked opening my eyes and moving my arms out of the way to see if Fang was ok. Or if he was even still bothering to fight, or if, like me he had resorted to just trying to protect himself.

I couldn't see him. But I could hear grunts and growls coming from somewhere above me, which I took as a good thing. Then I heard the very last thing I wanted to hear right then. A low but pained moan, one that wasn't coming from me I mean.

The moan sounded like how I pictured Fang to sound but I had never heard him give any sign of pain before, so this was a first. Then I heard a shout, also in Fang's voice. It was too high up for me to understand what he said but I could guess that he was talking to me.

Then in recognition of my beat up state, Fang yelled "Max hold on," and he immediately knocked out the two remaining erasers.

Just then Omega 2 kicked my shoulder so hard that I thought I was going to pass out from the pain. I managed to stay conscious but I couldn't hold back the scream.

"Ahh, does it hurt a lot, Maxie? Well it won't hurt much longer; I am tired of beating you to a pulp. So your time here is over, goodbye," Omega 2 said in a slightly breathless voice.

I faintly heard Fang shout "NOOO!" but I couldn't be sure; I might have just been imagining it.

Then with a 'thunk' Omega 2 fell down beside me and Fang came into my peripheral vision. He kicked Omega 2 out of his way and came to his knees next to me.

"Max, we are going to find the Flock now, stay with me!" Fang said right before I started seeing black dots in my vision.

Then I passed out.

Fang's pov

I didn't think that this would be to hard because there were only 50 erasers and 6 Flock, and the Flock is way stronger than any eraser. Then the Flock flew away.

Crap! I couldn't leave with them; I was surrounded.

'Fang, stay here with Max and fight; we are all going to a clearing two miles north and six and a half miles northeast. We are going to wait there,' Angel thought to me.

'Okay, I will be here; this shouldn't take too long. We will be there soon,' I returned.

Good, Max is here with me, I can do anything for her. This will be easy. Crap! I hope Angel didn't hear that.

Then I started to do a 360 to see where Max was and how she was doing. I never finished that 360 because before I had turned even halfway around I got hit in the face by a very hairy paw.

When I focused again I saw what seemed like all the erasers surrounding me. 'Better me than Max,' I thought.

Then all the erasers attacked at the same time. 'Shit! There is no way I can fight all of these guys off at once,' ran through my mind before they were on top of me again.

But I was in for a surprise, I wasn't torn to shreads. Instead one of the flying refrigerators swung at me from behind. I felt the claws break my skin but I was braced for way more pain than one little scratch. Then all the erasers backed off at the same time.

Then they all came at me at the same time again, still I only felt one hit, but I knew that eventually even one hit would take me down if I didn't fight back. And that meant that Max would be left to fight all of these guys, I could not take the chance that Max would get hurt, at all. I really hope she is safe.

Then I lunged for the closest eraser. But before I was able to get to him all his buddy, buddy erasers came at me. The same thing happened again, only one attacked me, and they only kicked me once. Now don't get me wrong that one kick hurt but I was grateful that I wasn't getting attacked by all these at once.

At this point I decided that I was going to fight like hell and no one and no amount of pain was going to stop me.

So I started fighting. I wasn't getting very far and was getting more hurt but I kept on madly kicking and punching any inch of eraser I could get my hands on.

I had my hands on the biggest eraser's neck, the one who looked like he might be in charge. Then I felt a searing pain in the back of my leg. It felt like when the school used to inject the pain serum into us to see how much we could handle, but in a more concentrated place. I heard a very pathetic moan. It took me a moment to realize that the noise came from me.

I turned my leg slightly so that I could see what was wrong with it, and I saw a knife that was covered in blood in this very sad excuse for an eraser's hand. He was scrawny and short, and had a very sick smile on his face.

"Now that is just not fair, for you to have weapons and I didn't get to bring any," I taunted him. A look of fear crossed his face when he realized that I was talking to him.

Then I heard it. The worst sound I could ever hear. I heard Max scream out in agony, Max does not scream, ever. The sound came from below me so I looked down to see what happened to her and who did it, so that I would know who to kill.

I saw her crumpled on the ground with some blond haired guy standing over her. She was beat up, don't get me wrong, but I didn't see anything that would make her scream. Then I saw him kick her ribs and I heard a snap.

I got so pissed that I just snapped. If I thought I was fighting before, that was nothing compared to what I was doing now. Now I was in full out kick butt mode. When I get this angry, which doesn't usually happen, normally I am in better control of my emotions, you had better watch out.

Erasers started falling all around me, I didn't even remember snapping their necks or knocking them out but all I knew was that Max was getting hurt and I needed to help her.

Finally all the erasers were falling to the ground, to their death. Now I am not a cold blooded killer, but when you put the flock in danger, especially Max then I will warn you now, you will not survive. So don't try it okay? Good.

I flew to the ground as fast as I could and I saw something that ripped my heart out of my chest and put it through a meat processor. Max was lying on the ground crumpled into a helpless little ball and the blond, who I now gathered was the scumbag that she had to fight in Germany, when I wasn't there, Omega. I shuddered at the memory; it hurt to think about times when I wasn't with her.

And worse yet, I think I heard him saying "Your time is over, goodbye Maxie."

Then I was scared; I wasn't going to get there in time if he really had the power to kill her quickly. So I did the only thing I could, I tried to distract him.

"NOOOO" I shouted at the top of my very bruised lungs. I knew that he wouldn't not kill her because he pitied me, but I did hope that it would distract him enough to let me get to him.

It worked. He turned his head to the right ever so slightly. I used all of the force left in me to punch the back of his head where a pressure point is. He fell to the ground next to Max.

I kicked him out of the way so I could get to Max.

"Max, we are going to find the Flock now, stay with me!" I said, near tears. Then her whole body went limp.

Shit! I thought; she cannot die now. Not before I get to tell her how much I like her, how she is the woman who makes life on the run worth living. Or how she is the most beautiful and precious girl in the world. So I decided to tell her, just not in those words.

"Max come back, wake up! I need you! Darn it Max, wake up!" I said hoping that she could hear me. I repeated it over and over even after my mouth was so dry I couldn't even swallow properly.

Finally I saw the clearing. I landed as fast as I could and told Iggy to check her out. I didn't tell him that I was stabbed; he could take care of me later. I told him that I wasn't sure what happened only that I saw her only the ground being beaten.

I sent Nudge out to find the closest hotel; I figured that Max would be more comfortable there. When she came back I picked up Max and flew as fast as I could. We got there fairly quick considering I had a hole in my leg and was carrying Max.

Iggy took care of her major injuries.

I was so ticked off when he told me that she had four broken ribs, a broken leg and that her wings were very nearly ripped out of her back. Let's just say that that Omega 2 guy was lucky he wasn't here when I found that out.

Then Iggy took care of my leg but I hardly even noticed, I was so worried about Max.


	3. Assume

Assume - Max

Max's pov

I dreamt that I was flying, without using my wings, and that someone was whispering to me. It sounded like they were saying "Max come back, wake up! I need you. Damn it, wake up Max," over and over again. Then my dream ended.

The next thing I know I was laying against something that was very hard.

'Max if you don't wake up right now I will constantly be talking in your head, like Nudge normally does,' Angel thought to me.

My eyes fluttered open. "Nothing like a healthy dose of fear to wake someone up," I croaked. I didn't like the way I sounded, I sounded vulnerable, and weak.

"Oh thank God," a deep masculine voice said right next to my ear.

Fang.

Oh my gosh, that meant that my head was on Fang's chest. 'So I did die and go to heaven,' I thought to myself.

Then I heard Angel giggle. Oh crap, she heard what I thought.

That would be about the time that I noticed Gazzy and Nudge's voices talking. Right after that I noticed a hand on my leg.

At first I thought it was Fang's hand, and I was going to kill him for touching me when I am unconscious. Then I realized that the hand was barley touching me and was mostly skimming over my leg.

Iggy.

"Ig, what the verdict? How bad am I?" I asked as soon as I figured out that Iggy was assessing my injuries.

"Pretty bad. You're lucky to be alive. One more kick to the face head and I think you would have been a goner," Iggy said with a lot of hate and anger in his voice.

"Then thanks Fang for getting there when you did; he was just telling me how he was going to finish me."

At this Fang stiffened. "I'm so sorry; I should have gotten there sooner. I thought that you would be ok because all the erasers were with me and, and, and…" Fang trailed off. Did he really just stutter? I don't think so, only normal people do that; he is above that.

'Angel, tell everyone to give us ten minutes okay?' I thought to my baby.

'Alright!' she thought with way to much enthusiasm. 'Are you and Fang gonna kiss and make up?'

'NO! We aren't even fighting, I just need a minute with him,' I thought back to her.

Then everyone got up but Fang, Iggy, and I.

"Uh, Iggy, can you go to please?" I said hesitantly because I didn't want to hurt his feelings but I really did need to talk to Fang alone.

"I'm not finished cleaning your cuts," he replied in a stubborn tone.

"Ten minutes won't make a difference, so get out!" I said that last part jokingly so I wouldn't hurt his feelings.

He shot me a look as he left that made me feel guilty because he was biting his bottom lip and trembling with what I thought was frustration.

As soon as he was out the door, I turned to Fang.

"What happened?" I asked in my 'don't you dare lie to me or I will kick your butt' tone.

"Nothing."

I looked at him and said in a deadly tone "Fang, I know something happened; I was on the ground getting beaten, you were in the air surrounded by erasers and then I pass out as Omega 2 falls down next to me, what happened?"

He sighed. "After everyone left the erasers all surrounded me. Then, like they had someone telling them when to, they all attacked at once, I guess they figured that I couldn't defend myself then.

"At first I couldn't do anything but take it. But then I realized that they weren't there to kill me or capture me because they would all lunge at me but only one would attack and he would only punch, or kick me once. Then all of them would back off at once. I never knew which one was going to attack so I had to wait for it before I could do anything.

"Then I heard you scream. I looked around and saw you lying on the ground in a little ball with that blond kicking you while you were down. After that I am not totally sure what happened, I just know that I ended up on the ground running towards that scumbag and all the erasers were on the ground. I'm not sure if they are dead or just unconscious. Then I put everything in me into punching the back of pretty boy's head. Then I carried you back here and got us a hotel room," Fang finished his story.

"Well thanks then…" I said with total sincerity. "Before I was completely out I had a dream that," you said you loved me. No, I didn't say that last part out loud because that would be like admitting whether or not I cared if Fang loved me, like in love, not sibling love.

His jaw tensed slightly before he asked, "About what?"

"Never mind, it was just a dream… I shouldn't have said anything," I looked down trying not to blush.

Fang raised an eyebrow at me but otherwise he showed no interest or other emotion, as usual.

"Fang, I am really glad that you're okay; I'm sorry that I told the flock to leave and put you in danger. I didn't know that Omega 2 wouldn't let me help you fight them."

"What happened with him? Nearly every rib is broken, all your facial bones are broken, and your leg is broke clean in half, your foot is pulled out of the joint and on your right hand all of your fingers are ripped out of the joints. Your wings are very nearly ripped out of your back to, and they are missing a lot of the feathers."

I really didn't want to tell him what happened so I decided to edit out the bad parts. "After Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel left, I noticed all the erasers were surrounding you, so I went to help you," I paused here to see if he dared to say anything about me being the one who needs help, he didn't so I continued, "and Omega 2 attacked me. Once I really started losing I decided to kick his wings closed. It didn't work. But apparently he knew what was supposed to happen because he did it to me. When I was about 30 feet about the ground, I managed to open my wings back up. But that was when I hit the top of the trees from the forest…" I paused to take a breath but Fang interrupted.

"That explains the missing feathers and broken wing bones, and why they look like someone tried to cut them from your back."

"Yeah well, and then once Omega 2 landed he started to kick me. It whole body hurt too bad to fight back. So I tried to protect myself. I curled into a ball to protect my stomach and used my arms to cover my head. That didn't work too well. Then he said that he was going to kill me, then he was on the ground next to me, and you were kicking him out of the way. Then I was flying," I decided not to tell him about my dream.

I looked up to gauge his reaction, not really expecting any reaction. But to my immense surprise, he looked very angry. Suddenly something occurred to me,

"How did you get this room?" I looked around the room for the first time and took in my surroundings. I was in the living room of the hotel; the front door was down a short hall. Also down that hall there was another door, which I assumed was the bathroom. Then to my right was a big dark wood door, the bedroom.

He noticed where I was looking; "The one to the right is the bedroom. It has two double beds, and the other door down that hall," he pointed to the front door, "is the bathroom. The kids and I already showered, so it's your turn."

"Wow, ummm… thanks. I don't think I can shower right now; I don't think I can even stand on my leg," I admitted. Normally I would have tried but this was Fang, and I could trust him.

"Okay," the corners of his mouth looked like they might have twitched a little and then he continued, "I used your Max Ride card, and Angel 'convinced' the desk clerk to give it to us half-price. There are two doubles in there," he repeated while he pointed to the big dark wood door, "and Angel and Nudge are going to share one, Iggy and Gazzy are going to share the other. I got a rollaway bed for me, and you get the couch."

"Fang, can you get everyone in here? I need to talk to them."

Fang got up and walked for the bedroom door. Before he reached it, the door flew open and nearly smacked his face as Nudge and Angel came running in, followed closely by the Gasman. Iggy came calmly walking in and sat at the bottom of the couch, by my leg and began to examine it again. To my immense surprise, Total beat Angel and Nudge to the couch.

Then Iggy started to clean all my various cuts, Fang stayed where he was, Total sat on the (now very crowded) couch next to me, and the rest of the flock sat on the floor next to us.

I wasn't sure where to start, but I had to start somewhere so I began with the first time I fought Omega.

"Angel, Nudge, Total," I nodded to them, "you remember the fight I had with Omega in Germany?" Nudge shuddered and they all nodded. "Okay Angel, can you send what you remember of that to the guys?" She scrunched up her face in concentration.

The boys suddenly got wide eyed as they stared unfocused at me.

"Okay Angel, that's enough. I will admit, if Jeb hadn't told me his weakness, I would have lost." I paused here, then continued, "When I saw this new Omega, I assumed that he had the same weakness, which was that he couldn't track fast objects, but I was wrong. When I tried to confuse him he broke all my fingers and joints." Angel gasped as I remembered how bad this had hurt. I quickly put up my mental block and apologized to her.

"Omega 2 is faster, smarter, and he doesn't have any weakness that I know of. But he does have one; according to Jeb," here I made my tone very serious, "if you ever see this guy, then get away from him. I think he flies at least as fast as us, unless I use my super speed, but for all I know he has that too. And Angel's mind power doesn't work either so as soon as you see him. You. Will. Get. Out. Of. There. We will not underestimate him again. Look where it got me," I gestured to my bruised and broken body. After this I gave everyone a very meaningful look, even Total. Everyone was silent.

Then the last person I expected to break the silence broke it.

"Max, if you think I plan on letting him get away with hurting _you_, then you both have another thing coming," Fang said menacingly. Iggy nodded in agreement.

I lifted my head off of the couch and turned to glare at him where he was standing, "No, Fang, when we go after him, it will be a… group effort," I growled out just as menacingly.

He didn't say anything, so I assumed that he has dropped the subject. You know what they say about assuming though 'assuming makes an ass out of you and me.' **(A/N Ass-u-me ass out of you and me, never mind)**

Fang's pov

'I will get him back. I will make him suffer for hurting the most beautiful and pure being on earth,' was running through my mind over and over.

'Aww Fang that was so sweet,' Angel thought to me.

'Thanks Angel, but you might want to stay out of my mind for a while, I am very angry, plus you need to see if you can get anything from her. Can you do that for me?' I asked and hoped that she hadn't been listening for too long because I was just thinking how wonderful it would be to strangle Omega 2.

'She is thinking about how on the way to the clearing she had a dream that you said that you loved her and how she wishes that you really did love her to, I didn't tell her that you do because I didn't want you to get mad at me. But you really should tell her soon that you love her.' Angel sent to me.

'Ok thanks for not telling her and…thanks. Do you think you could wake her up?'

'I could try,' Angel thought back just as she got a very evil looking smile on her face that told me I shouldn't have said anything.

Suddenly Max sat bolt upright and said "nothing like a healthy dose of fear to wake someone up." I didn't like the way she sounded though, she sounded weak and like, well she had just been beaten to within an inch of her life. Which she was, but still, I didn't like it.

"Oh thank God," I said because I was so relieved, I just couldn't hold it back.

After a second she stiffened, and turned her head slightly to the side and figure out whom it was. Then Angel started giggling and I assumed that Max thought of something that was funny, to Angel anyways.

After another minute she stiffened again. Then I noticed how Iggy was checking her leg to see if it was ok. Before she realized that is was Iggy her face clouded over and it looked like she was going to hit me.

"Iggy what's the verdict? How am I?" Max asked in a very weak but still stronger than before voice.

"Pretty bad. You're lucky to be alive. One more kick to the face and I think that you would have been a goner," Iggy practically growled out, he wanted to kill Omega 2 almost as much as I did.

"Then thanks Fang, for getting there when you did, he was just telling me how he was going to finish me because he was getting bored," Max said in her oh so beautiful voice; I just loved it when she talked.

But I still needed to apologize for not getting there sooner so that she wasn't hurt as bad. "I'm so sorry; I should have gotten there sooner. I thought that you would be ok because all the erasers were with me and, and, and…" I couldn't finish, there were no words to say how sorry I was for her getting hurt.

All the sudden everyone got up and walked out except Iggy.

"Iggy can you go too, please?" the reason for my existence said.

"I'm not finished cleaning your cuts." Iggy, always the stubborn one.

"Ten minutes won't hurt, so get out!" she said that last part jokingly but only on the surface, there was no question she wanted him out.

Once he was out the door she turned to me.

"What happened?"

I didn't want to tell her what happened, I just wanted to look at her and be happy that she was ok and awake.

"Nothing."

She glared at me, "Fang, I know something happened; I was on the ground getting beaten, you were in the air surrounded by erasers and then I pass out as Omega 2 falls down next to me, what happened?" I loved the sound of her voice, even if she was trying to scare me into telling her. I gave up and told her, but only the bare minimum. I didn't want her to pity me so I decided to edit out the parts where I got hurt.

"After everyone left the erasers all surrounded me. Then, like they had someone telling them when to, they all attacked at once, I guess they figured that I couldn't defend myself then.

"At first I couldn't do anything but take it. But then I realized that they weren't there to kill me or capture me because they would all lunge at me but only one would attack and he would only punch, or kick me once. Then all of them would back off at once. I never knew which one was going to attack so I had to wait for it before I could do anything.

"Then I heard you scream. I looked around and saw you lying on the ground in a little ball with that blond kicking you while you were down. After that I am not totally sure what happened, I just know that I ended up on the ground running towards that scumbag and all the erasers were on the ground. I'm not sure if they are dead or just unconscious. Then I put everything in me into punching the back of pretty boy's head. Then I carried you back here and got us a hotel room," I stopped here and realized how much I had been talking.

"Well thanks then…" she said and trailed off. "Before I was completely out I had a dream that," and she stopped there.

Oh crap! Could she have been awake when I said that I loved her? I mean yes I do love her, but I will never tell her that because she doesn't love me back. I am just a filler until she can get back to Sam. I found this out when she said 'that there was no us' if I kept throwing myself at anything in a skirt. At first I didn't know what she was talking about but then Iggy said that she was talking about Brigid; I don't know why Max thought that there was anything there though because Brigid is seven years older. I only hung out with her so that when Max wasn't around she could give me a girl perspective on what to say to Max. I had her to help with the girl's point of view and Iggy to help me with what I was feeling.

Iggy always was trying to get me to tell Max about how I felt for her. He has been my feelings counselor for like, as long as I have liked Max. So basically forever.

I tried not to show my nervousness about what she could have heard while she was unconscious but I think I failed entirely. "About what?" I reluctantly asked.

"Never mind, it was just a dream… I shouldn't have said anything" Then she looked down at her feet.

I raised my eyebrow but didn't push her to tell me, I figured that she would tell me eventually and I didn't want to know right now, if she didn't love me back… No don't think about it! I mentally yelled at myself

"Fang, I am really glad that you're okay; I'm sorry that I told the flock to leave and put you in danger. I didn't know that Omega 2 wouldn't let me help you fight them." I couldn't believe she was actually worried about me; she was the one who could barley move.

"What happened with him? Nearly every rib is broken, all your facial bones are broken, and your leg is broke clean in half, your foot is pulled out of the joint and on your right hand all of your fingers are ripped out of the joints. Your wings are very nearly ripped out of your back to, and they are missing a lot of the feathers." I asked, really wanting to know so that I would have even more reason to kill him when I got the chance.

She hesitated slightly then gave in and decided to tell me. "After Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel left, I noticed all the erasers were surrounding you, so I went to help you," she paused here and it seemed like she was waiting for me to say something but when I didn't, she continued, "and Omega 2 attacked me. Once I really started losing I decided to kick his wings closed. It didn't work. But apparently he knew what was supposed to happen because he did it to me. When I was about 30 feet about the ground, I managed to open my wings back up. But that was when I hit the top of the trees from the forest…" She stopped to take a breath and a sudden realization hit me.

"That explains the missing feathers and broken wing bones, and why they look like someone tried to cut them from your back," I said, horrified that she had gone through so much pain.

"Yeah well, and then once Omega 2 landed he started to kick me. It whole body hurt too bad to fight back. So I tried to protect myself. I curled into a ball to protect my stomach and used my arms to cover my head. That didn't work too well. Then he said that he was going to kill me, then he was on the ground next to me, and you were kicking him out of the way. Then I was flying…" Again she paused, hesitating again. I resisted the urge to growl.

She looked up as my face again and looked right into my eyes, it looked like she was looking right into my soul.

"How did you get this room?" She asked noticing for the first time that we weren't in a forest sitting on some comfy pinecones.

I noticed that she was looking around curiously taking in her surroundings just like Jeb had trained us to do. I decided to help her and tell her where everything was "The one to the right is the bedroom. It has two double beds, and the other door down that hall," I pointed to the front door, "is the bathroom. The kids and I already showered, so it's your turn."

"Wow, ummm… thanks. I don't think I can shower right now; I don't think I can even stand on my leg." It killed me that she was in pain but I was also very happy that she felt like she could trust me enough to tell me this.

"Okay," I fought the urge to smile and decided to answer her original question. "I used your Max Ride card, and Angel 'convinced' the desk clerk to give it to us half-price. There are two doubles in there," he repeated while he pointed to the big dark wood door, "and Angel and Nudge are going to share one, Iggy and Gazzy are going to share the other. I got a rollaway bed for me, and you get the couch."

"Fang can you get everyone in here? I need to talk to them."

I got up and walked for the bedroom door. Before I even touched the handle, the door flew open and nearly smacked my face in as Nudge and Angel came running in, followed closely by the Gasman. Iggy came calmly walking in and sat at the bottom of the couch, by Max's leg and began to examine it again. I was kind of surprised that Total beat even Angel to the couch to sit by Max.

Then Iggy started to clean all of her various cuts, if I didn't know better I would have thought that Iggy liked Max also, but before I told him how I felt about her I made him promise that if he ever liked her even a little bit, he had to tell me.

Max apparently wanted to tell all of us about Omega 2 but it didn't look like she knew where to begin.

"Angel, Nudge, Total," she nodded to them, "you remember the fight I had with Omega in Germany?" Nudge shuddered and they all nodded. "Okay Angel, can you send what you remember of that to the guys?" She scrunched up her face in concentration.

Suddenly I got the image of Max fighting that same blond that had nearly killed her 2 days previous. It was terrible, she was losing, and then some blond who looked like Max but 20 years older called off the fight.

"Ok Angel that's enough. I will admit, if Jeb hadn't told me his weakness, I would have lost." She paused and again I had to suppress the urge to growl and rip apart the nearest pillow "When I saw this new Omega, I assumed that he had the same weakness, which was that he couldn't track fast objects, but I was wrong. When I tried to confuse him he broke all my fingers and joints." I felt bile that comes before you puke come up in my mouth and I shuddered.

"Omega 2 is faster, smarter, and he doesn't have any weakness that I know of. But he does have one, according to Jeb," then her tone changed, into an even more beautiful yet very angry tone, "if you ever see this guy, then get away from him. I think he flies at least as fast as us, unless I use my super speed, but for all I know he has that too. And Angel's mind power doesn't work either so as soon as you see him. You. Will. Get. Out. Of. There. We will not underestimate him again. Look where it got me," She gestured to her glorious body, even inches from death and covered in blood and dirt she had looked beautiful. Then she looked all of us in the eye trying to communicate that she would kill us if we disobeyed.

I broke the silence; I know me of all people to break the silence, but you have to admit, there normally isn't much silence with Nudge around, so normally there isn't any to break.

"Max, if you think I plan on letting him get away with hurting _you_, then you both have another thing coming," I was trying to keep my voice even but failing entirely. Iggy nodded in agreement.

She lifted her head off of the couch to turn and glare at me, "No Fang, when we go after him, it will be a… group effort," she growled out, trying to be menacing. Anyone with a half a brain would have peed themselves at her tone of voice, but I was hardly effected by it, I was used to it.

I didn't say anything; I didn't want to fight right now. Also, I was trying to make her think that I had given up and was just going to forget what that scumbag did to her.


	4. Changing Luck

Changing Luck

Max's pov.

I can not believe that Iggy forced me to take painkillers while I was unconscious, that is so wrong. Ya you heard me right, before I woke up Iggy thought that I might be in a lot pain so he forced fed me some crushed up painkillers.

So when I woke up, I could feel the hurt but it wasn't too unbearable so I didn't listen to Iggys advice and walked around. This was before I knew that had painkiller in my system.

That was also about 6 hours ago. Now the whole pain thing is a different story. I am trying to fall back asleep because I won't be able to feel anything then.

It is not working out.

Right now I am lying on the couch facing away from Fang because I know that if he is able to see my face, he will be able to read me, like always. He is on the rollaway bed updating his blog, great, now all his readers are going to know that I got my butt kicked by a guy, and not just any guy, but a clone of a guy! This is going to be embarrassing.

'We are going to have to get out of here soon' I thought. To bad, the kids never got to go swimming. I would have Iggy or Fang take them now but it is like 1 in the morning.

No one has to take watch in hotels because if no one could sneak up on us, either they come in through the window, which would be loud to break, or they come in the traditional way, the doors. Those they would have to break down, unless of course they got a key from the receptionist, which I doubt that they would do because now that Itex has stopped trying to make erasers look human, now they are just trying to make them menacing looking. They aren't using flyboys, for reasons unknown but we think that it is because they couldn't think for themselves, therefore if we flew into the water, they would follow us, which means we know how to kill them all very easy and efficiently, and they have also stopped using those things with the laser eyes, also for unknown reasons, but trust me we have thought about it. We still come up blank.

I was thinking about how right before I passed out so fully that I didn't remember what happened I heard Fang say that he loved me. I love him too, I love the whole flock, but the way he said it, it sounded like he meant something different.

'Stop it Max, you're over analyzing this!' I yelled to myself, in my head of course.

'Your only over analyzing this because you like Fang as more than just a friend and you want him to feel the same way about you' Jeb said to me.

'Shut it, you don't know what your talking about, you are just a voice in my head who has nothing better to do then invade a teenage girl-on-the-run-from-mad-Whitecoats-scientists mind.'

'Maximum, you don't have any experience with dealing with boys, you don't know what you are talking about, I am here to help you with anything, so that includes Fang' the voice said, it seemed like Jeb was angry, huh, I was finally getting somewhere.

I decided not to respond, know that that would irritate the voice more then anything that I could say.

Then I stopped remembering anything and just focused on the sound of Fang typing, it wasn't the most regular rhythm but it was close enough to get me to sleep.

Fang's pov

I was 'typing' to try to get Max to fall asleep. I really wasn't typing, I had finished updating the blog at least an hour ago, but I was just randomly pressing keys so that there would be a fairly steady rhythm for her to fall asleep to. I think that she has finally fallen asleep because her breathing was evened out to regular people- ok fine, regular avian, breathing.

She always breathed faster. The one time I asked her she said that she didn't know that she did. I think that it is because it is her way of being prepared for anything. This way her blood always had enough oxygen to carry it to her muscles, so she could fight at a seconds notice and not get light headed or dizzy when she jumped up or anything.

I was just about to turn of my computer when I heard her mumble something. I couldn't be sure what I had heard, so I listened closer. I know, I am a terrible person. But I knew that whatever she was saying was important. Whenever she talked in her sleep, which is very rare, it was about something vitally important. Something so important that she was thinking about it even she was deeply asleep but still something so important and dangerous that she felt that she needed to keep it to herself. The last time that she sleep talked was like a week after Jeb 'left.'

"Fan, why di'ya say tha?" What was that? Ok so the first part was my name, I think. The 2nd word was obviously why, then it sounded like did ya say that. Why did I say what? While I was busy being confused she rolled over and had an angry look on her face.

"Tha cha love me, an ya wanted me ta stay?" When did I say that I loved her other then when she was knocked out? I didn't, and there is no way that she was awake for that, she was in to much pain to be awake.

But still, Max has done the impossible before, so why not this time.

'Great, just great, she heard everything that I said, and now she is mad about it' I thought to myself. Maybe… no, no, that was impossible. But…

What if she loved me too? What if that is why she was dreaming of what I said? What if she was waiting for me to make the first move, just like Iggy had been telling me for years?

No, that wasn't possible. No matter what she said she still liked that scumbag, Sam, from West Virginia. I mean you could just tell, after she kissed him *shudder* she was so happy. Ya, she was embarrassed, but her best friend, who just happened to be a guy, caught her kissing him. So I need to get over her.

But do you get over love? I don't think so.

This whole time I was looking at her. After a minute or two the angry lines smoothed out and she smiled.

"Really?" then she paused "you to, I always ave."

Ok… so what was that about?

Then it hit me. "Fang, why did you say that?" "That you love me and you want me to stay" "Really" "You too, I always have" She was dreaming about when I said I loved her and she loved me to. Possibly, or I could just be misinterpreting what she is not saying aloud, but what the 'dream Fang' was saying to her in her dream, but I doubt it. Well, now I know that my luck it changing, for the better for once.

With that happy thought I fell asleep.

Max's pov

_'Max, get everyone up, fast. Then go eat breakfast, and leave'_

Wow, that is a great thing to wake up to.

'Why?' I asked, I was comfortable, other then the pain, so I didn't want to move,

_'Because about 300 erasers will track where you are if you don't get out of there soon, your Max Ride card is safe to use at hotels but the clerk from last night recognized you and wont call the authorities unless you aren't checked out by 7. But the erasers will be there in about 2 hours unless you check out in an hour._'

"Up and at um guys!" I said with as much enthusiasm is possible for 6 o'clock in the morning after a night of very restless sleep." Get up guys!" I was up ever fast except Nudge. 'Defiantly not a morning person' I thought to myself.

Slowly she sat up and rubbed her eyes, then yawned.

"Guys, we have 45 minutes to get out of her or the erasers are going to know where we are. So we are going to breakfast and leaving." Everyone heard the urgency in my tone and got up and to the door instantly.

All but Fang.

"Max, how are you getting breakfast? You look like you have been to hell and back, so I don't think that you should go down there." Fang the-oh-so-caring said.

I really didn't know, I wasn't sure what I looked like, but if it was half as bad as I felt then 'to hell and back' didn't cover it. He noticed my hesitation.

"Iggy you go with them, and I will get me and Max some food, meet us back here in 35 minutes" Fang said with some major authority in his voice. Then he looked to me and raised his eyebrow in a 'any objections' look on his face.

I sighed, but nodded.

Then Fang turned and said, "I will be right back, give me 5 minutes."

Then I was alone.

Fang's pov

I am going to ask her what she dreamed about last night. That is why I volunteered to bring her food by myself.

I turned and closed the door to our room, our hotel room I mean, not that me and Max were sharing a room or anything, just that, never mind.

I was greeted by Iggys smiling face. "You finally gonna make your move?" he asked me.

"No, I am just bringing her food, so mind your own business" I said, slightly embarrassed.

"Why! If you wait to long you're going to be old or in some cage at Itex!" Iggy said faking outrage.

"Fine, this could go two ways. One, she tells me that I was right, and last night she was dreaming about saying she needs me. Or two, I was totally wrong and she was dreaming about something else," like I said, I confided in Iggy so I told him the truth.

"Wait how do you know what she was dreaming about?"

Oh, right I forgot to tell him.

"Last night she said, and I quote, 'Fang, why did you say that?' 'That you need me and you want me to stay' 'Really' 'You too, I always have.' When I was carrying her back to the clearing and she was passed out I told her I needed her to stay. I think that is what she was talking about and possibly dreaming of what she would have responded." By now he was open mouthed.

"And you didn't tell me!"

"I forgot" I said honestly.

"Well hurry, she is waiting for her delicious food and _delicious _man." He snickered. I had to resist the urge to punch him, he was right, I did need to get back to her.

I grabbed her food and walked off to her room.

She looked at me and smiled when she saw the mountains of food in my hands. I handed her the plate and sat down next to her on the couch.

"Max" I began, not knowing what I was going to say, "dream of anything good last night?"

She froze. Then a full minute and a half later she turned to me with the same expression on her face as when she went to take a bit of her food before I started.

"I… I, I don't re… remember. Y…you?" she managed to stutter out.

I almost chuckled.

"Max I heard you talking. What were you dreaming about?" I persisted stubbornly.

She huffed. "after I got knocked out, or passed out or whatever, I had a dream that you carried me here" she paused and sucked in a ragged breath "and you talked to me."

Damn it! I knew she heard me, ok fine, so maybe that is a good thing, what does she think of it?

"I did talk to you, what do you remember me saying?" I decided to play it cool and not let her know how nervous she was making me.

"Lots of stuff" I sent her a mini glare, that said keep going "like you need me to stay with you," Then she looked down at her feet. And her from what I could see, even the back of her neck was red.

"And" I said, still not knowing what she thought of it.

"And I just dreamed of what I would have said if I could have" a very beautiful and lovely voice came straight form the beauty goddesses mouth.

"What would you have said?" I pressed.

"You heard what I would have said."

"No I didn't I forgot" I said jokingly and flirtingly at the same time. That had to be a first, I thought to myself.

"Well why don't you repeat what you said and I just might answer that" she said raising one eyebrow at me with a devious look. I think that she thought I would drop it but I had been training for this moment for 5 years from Iggy and like 3 months from Brigid.

"I said that I need you. Then I said that we were going to find the flock and I needed you to stay with me" I said, all the while trying to not get up and run from fear of rejection.

"And I would have said that I need you too, and who doesn't need me?" she said with a tone in her voice that made me think that she was repressing the same urge to run as me. But I also think that she didn't mean the same kind of need as I did. I guessed she was trying to keep the mood light. It wasn't working.

Then we sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Fang" she said tentatively.

I looked up to meet her gaze.

"Why did you say that you need me? Was it just because you thought I was going to die?" we both shuddered at the mention of her death.

"No"

"Then why?"

"Because, it's true" and I got up and walked to the kitchen sink to wash the plates.

"Well, I was being honest too Fang" she said so quietly I wasn't sure if I was meant to hear it.

I kept up my calm, cool, and collected mask but inside I was jumping for joy. She said that she loved me and now she said that she meant it. Wow, I was right my luck was changing, for the better.

Max's pov

I cannot believe that just happened!

I just told Fang that I need him. And he said it first, I know that he meant it different then I did.

Wow, could life get any better. No.

Fine, yes it could. If we weren't on the run, but right now I swear life is perfect.

'Wow, did he really say that?' a tiny voice in my head questioned. Angel.

'Yes, but don't say anything' I mentally replied then remembered that she had went into my brain without permission 'and you are lucky I am to happy to get mad at you for intruding on my thoughts'

'Iggy told me to, he said he didn't want to interrupt anything' Angel thought to me.

Iggy. The Pervert. I am going to kill him. What if someone knew the double meaning of what he was saying, even if he was just kidding? Still, Nudge is 11 now, she might know.

Then the door opened and they all walked in. Nudge and Gazzy looked normal. Iggy was smiling like the goof ball he was. And Angel, well to put it in the simplest terms, she was grinning from ear to ear.

Great Iggy must know something.

Fang's pov

As soon as Iggy walked in the door I knew that he knew that I had talked to Max, like talked talked, not just small talk. I wondered what Angel told him.

Iggys pov

Ha! I knew that if he just grew some balls and told Max how he felt then she would tell him how she felt. But he didn't tell her that he loves her, or I would hear laughing and stuff. But I just heard some breathing patterns that told me that they were happy.

He finally told her at least some of what he felt. With lots of pushiness from my direction, but still.

I have been pushing Fang to tell Max how he feels for like, 5 years now? I don't know, something like that. So was Brigid. She was trying to get him to tell her to, she only knew us for about 10 minutes before she walked up to Fang and told him not to wait, cause Max wont always be there. So he started taking 'lessons' on what to say. Max thought that he liked her because of all the time they spent together. All 3 of us were totally grossed out by the thought but me and Brigid were sworn to secrecy and couldn't tell Max what Fang was really doing. It sucked; you could tell that she was unhappy. But there wasn't anything that you could do about it.

Angel was smiling too, she sent the image to me so I knew. I wonder if she read Fang or Max's mind. But it really doesn't matter. You know by how fast there pulse was racing and yet there breathing wasn't angry like, just very surprised. And just, well it is hard to describe but you just knew that they were so happy they could kiss you, or more accurately, each other.


	5. Flying, Flirts, and Waiters

Flying, Flirts, and Waiters

Flying, Flirts, and Waiters

Max's pov

"Max there is no way you can fly. Your wings are hardly even attached to your back. Just let me or Fang carry you" Iggy argued again.

"No I will be fine just getting in the air might hurt, but I can deal with it" I said. There is no way that Fang is going to carry me, ever. Especially cause I am to hurt to fly. That would only be admitting defeat.

"Max I will carry you. You will not put up a fight. And we will all be happy" Fang managed to say with a straight face. What was he smoking that made him think that I would listen to him I would never know.

"Look if we are not out of here in 5 minutes then we are going to have 300 erasers to fend off without your help. Do you want that?" Damn his stupid logic! Damn logic to the deepest pit of hell!

So here we are up in the air. With me in Fangs arms. With me in heaven.

To be completely honest the only reason I objected to Fang carrying me in the first place is that I wasn't sure how long he would be able to fly without getting tired.

Ok fine, that was the number two reason. The number one was that I wasn't sure that I would be able to contain myself from reaching up and stroking his perfect face. But if you tell anyone that I will hunt you down, so I don't suggest that you tell anyone.

"Fang do you promise me that you will tell me when you get tired?" I really was worried that he would get really tired and drop me.

"I will be fine. You don't weigh enough to tire me out. Just sit back and enjoy the flight" he said with a slight smile pulling at his lips. The same smile that had been there since the picked me up. Bridal style. Joy. But I will give him this, I was comfortable, and I felt safer then I had in a long time, even if my wings were trapped.

"Ok fine" I sighed. 'Angel, will you tell me when he starts getting tired?' I thought to her. I found a better way then relying on him to tell me that he was tired.

'I can try but Max…' her thoughts stopped for a moment 'the only thing he is thinking about is how much he loves holding you this close to him and how much he wishes that we always flew like this.'

I was shocked. I thought that I was the only one that was enjoying this. I figured that he was thinking that he should give me to Iggy because I was weighing him down.

'NO, that is not what he is thinking. He is thinking that he is glad that Iggy knew better then to really offer to carry you and that he had a chance to tell Iggy to carry Total in between Totals flights' Angel thought and I could tell that she was mad at me for thinking what I thought.

Yes, Total can fly now. But only for very short time periods and sorta slow to, but hey, it is a step.

'Alright, whatever you say, but just tell me if he starts getting tired and thinking about it.'

All this took place in a matter of seconds.

Then I decided to try to figure out where to go next.

"_Right now just concentrate on healing completely before you try to go back into action" _the voice put in at the perfect time, which was unusual.

'Ok I will do that. Earlier you said that my Max Ride card was safe. Does that mean we could stay in hotels more often or not?' I asked Jeb.

'_Yes it is perfectly safe. But I suggest that you don't get such big rooms, it draws attention. I think you should get smaller rooms but more then one, it is less conspicuous. Oh and don't stay more then one night unless I tell you to.'_ Wow. Jeb was being helpful for once. I am shocked.

'Ok then thanks for the advice' I thought back.

"Fang, we are staying in a hotel tonight. Sound good?" I asked him once I was out of my trance.

"Uhh… sure. That sounds good…. Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"The voice said to, and he said that it was safe as long as we don't stay more then one night."

"Okay" he said simply.

"Fang, thanks again" I just felt the urge to thank him once again.

"worth-welcome" ok, he defiantly changed what he was going to say halfway though it. "What did I do this time to deserve your thanks?" he said jokingly.

"Oh just, umm… getting me away from Omega 2" I was going to say for being there for me but that was way to mushy for me.

'Max, his thoughts just changed' Angel thought to me.

'Oh, what are they now sweetie' I said trying to mask my fear that I was too heavy and would have to have Iggy carry me and that I would have to leave Fangs arms.

'Now he is thinking that you are worth anything that he did for you so you don't need to thank him. Then he thought that he was stupid because he almost said that out loud.'

'ok good job, but next time, can you only tell me if he is thinking that he is tired or he wants to put me down ok' I thought to her.

'Sorry.'

'No your doing great, but just tell me when he is tired so we can stop, or tell me if anyone else is tired'

'Alright' she thought, back in her chipper voice.

"Fang, what do you think we should do next?" I would only ask Fang because he was the only one that knew that I didn't always have a plan and therefore I could only ask him about a good plan.

"Well first you are going to heal. Then we can worry about what to do next" he answered. There was something in his voice that I didn't recognize, but I thought it was something along the lines of we will take care of you before we worry about anyone else.

"I mean after that, we can't just wait for the next attack but we can't go looking for it either."

"I don't know Max. I think that we should set up a trap for them. Make sure that they know where we are and then lure them to a certain spot where there are bombs. Then blow them up. Then do it again. Till the get the point. Make them scarred to find us" Fang said.

"Wow" was all I could say. That was brilliant. Why hadn't we done that earlier? If it worked then it could make our lives so much easier.

"I know that you don't like guns but we should keep a couple, just in case. But we would keep them where unless you knew that they were there, then you would never find them. We wouldn't ever use them unless something went wrong and we absolutely had to. But we don't have to if you don't want to, it is up to you" Oh my god, this boy is brilliant.

I mean sure, I hated guns but lets face it, the enemy had them, so if for some reason it came down to them or me, I would make sure it was me and my flock. Not that it would come to him or me cause Itex are great people and would never hurt a fly. Snort. Ya right, they have proved that they will and they won't even look back and regret what they did.

"Max, we don't have to do that, it was just a suggestion" Fang said worriedly after noticing my pause.

"No, no, I was just thinking. I think your right about that, even the guns. If it is him or me, I want it to be me. But we would only use them in emergencies. And we would practice away from the kids, just you and me, and they wouldn't know. Our aim would have to be perfect or we can't even think about using them, what if we missed?"

"I promise you, it won't ever be you or him, I wont let it get that far if I have any life left in me to protect you with" Fang said with a lot of meaning and passion in his voice. So much that I couldn't even try to tell him not to cause it would be useless.

"Fang I can take care of myself, you just worry about you and the kids and I will worry about me and the kids" I said evenly as I could manage. I couldn't stand the image of Fang, hurt and bleeding, with his arms wrapped around me getting kicked by Omega 2 just to save me.

"Whatever you say."

I could tell that he was just saying this to keep me from worrying but he still planned on protecting me at any cost.

The sun was now right about our heads. So it was about noon. We had been flying since about 10 minutes to 7. Fang had to be tired.

"Fang are you sure that you aren't tired. You have been carrying me for over 5 hours" I asked quietly, not wanting anyone to overhear us. But I knew they wouldn't. We were about 20 feet below them and 15 feet behind them. I was shocked when I realized this. We had started off 30 feet behind them. Fang was catching up to them even with me in his arms.

Wow he was strong. And cute. And nice. And caring, even if he didn't show it all the time I knew he cared. And just, well the perfect gentleman.

He had even gotten to the point where when I hit him he wouldn't do anything. He was a useless sparring partner. I would kick him and he wouldn't even try to dodge it because he wouldn't want me to lose my balance. When we were younger he was the best partner for me, he always knew what my next move would be so he was ready for it. Now it was useless for me to even ask him to spar with me he would say yes. Then I would wait for him to make a move, he wouldn't. I would. He would just take it and not do anything about it.

"Guys! Lets stop and get some lunch!" I yelled loud enough for the whole flock to hear.

Nudge, Total, and Gazzy cheered. Angel got a relieved grin on her face. Iggy did nothing different but smile and descend.

Fang followed them down to where you could see the signs on the buildings and know whether they were restaurants or just houses.

We flew like that for about a mile before we came across a town. By now we were in the top corner of Colorado going into Nebraska. I wasn't sure what to expect as far as food goes but I was not expecting what I saw.

There were signs everywhere about a fish fry.

Perfect, the fish fry had unlimited fish and chips. That was exactly what this flock needed right now. We needed lots of food and a place to sit down.

So we landed on the outskirts of town.

Fang didn't put me down, so I looked him straight in the eye and asked him to let me walk. And he laughed.

Laughed! I was so mad I could have hit him, but I didn't.

"Fang put me down, I can walk."

So he very gently poked my leg. I very nearly screamed out in pain. I had to bit my lip to stop myself from making some embarrassing noise that proved I was in pain.

"Max, I can't even touch your leg without you being in pain, how do you expect to walk?" he asked in a truly curious voice.

"Fine, but what do we tell the people at the restaurant? That I was attacked by a mutants clone?" I only agreed because I knew that I wouldn't be able to walk and I would just fall down and possibly pass out from how bad it hurt. I could still taste the blood from when I bit my lip.

"No we tell them you were in a car accident and that you got pretty beat up, but they doctor said that you could leave, just stay off of your leg for 2 weeks. We just can't let them see it" he replied like it was the simplest thing in the world.

"If you think that will work…"

"Yes I do, and if it doesn't then we have Angel" Fang said in his 'I am teaching you common sense' tone.

Five minutes later we walked into the restaurant. I was just thinking that this would never work when a tall redhead came walking around the corner and spotted us.

Apparently showering everyday does some good for Fang because she began to eye him with a very stupid look on her face. She somehow managed to look past the fact that he was carrying me in his arms.

"How many people are coming tonight?" she asked. Well at least she was keeping it professional.

"Six" I answered.

Then she looked Fang right in the eye and said "how about we make that 5 and you and I go do something a little different then eating?" So much for professional. What a slu… I mean Flirt.

"How about we keep it at 6 and you just find my girlfriend and family a table?" Fang replied coldly.

Girlfriend? I thought. Since when? But I didn't say anything, I wasn't sure how much more I could take of this girl and this was just the 2nd time she opened her mouth.

"Right. This. Way." She said rudely, as she was leading us into the middle of the smoking section.

'Fang says sorry about the girlfriend remark but he was getting disgusted by the way she was looking at him, and what she was insinuating. What does insinuating mean?' Angel thought to me.

'Umm, it means implying' I thought back to her.

The server pointed to a table and walked away from the table.

Fang ever so gently set me down and even though he was being gentle it still hurt more then you could even imagine. Then put his hand on my arm to help me scoot over to the other side of the booth. Then he sat down next to me. Gazzy sat next to him. He slid his arm around the back of my neck. The other three sat on the other side.

"Umm, we are going to have to be careful where we bring you Fang, we don't want the waitresses attacking you" Iggy said to break the silence.

We all laughed, even Fang. That was before he snorted out "shut up" and went back to laughing.

Then the waiter came.

He looked like he should be working in a tattoo parlor rather then a fish selling restaurant. He had tattoos up his arms and around his neck. He was the most muscled man I had ever seen, and that includes on the t.v. I was honestly worried about whether he was from a new batch of erasers or just an ex-con.

"Hello. I will be your server today. Ummm, my name it Tom. I will be your server today. Oh shoot, I already said that!" he looked down at his toes then. When he looked up he looked nervous "uh I'm new. Sorry. I was wondering if you have your drinks picked out for the night?"

I was shocked for the 3rd time that night. This did not look like the kind of guy who got nervous while waiting on 3 teens and 3 kids.

Nudge recovered first, naturally. "I would like a cherry coke and don't worry about being new, we don't mind. I don't think I have ever had a waiter that was new. I think it will be cool. Thanks for being new!" she said with her usual bubbly enthusiasm.

He let out a deep breath then he looked at Iggy who was sitting next to Nudge. Iggy continued to 'look' at nothing in particular. Angel elbowed him.

"He is looking at you James" then she turned to the massive body builder for a waiter "he is blind."

"Oh," the waiter seemed shocked.

"I will just have a coke please?" but Iggy made it into a question unlike Nudge.

Tom the waiter turned to Angel next "and for you?"

"Just a coke."

"Same for me please" Gazzy said.

When Tom turned to our side of the table and saw me for the first time his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"Missy, who did that to you?" he asked then looked swiftly at Fang who had his arm around my shoulder to keep up the 'girlfriend' charade.

"I was in an accident" I said quickly before could make to many assumptions.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have made any assumptions, but it looks like someone used you for there punching bag. And he is looking kind of possessive. I'm sorry" he growled/said.

"I would never _ever_ touch her" Fang assured him with total sincerity in his voice. "And I would like Lemonade."

"Two lemonades please, and no, I was in an accident."

Toms face smoothed out and he said "3 cokes, 1 cherry coke, and 2 lemonades?"

A chorus of "yes" "yup" and "ya" erupted around me.

"Ok when I come back with that I am supposed to take your order, so ya, if you're ready, just look at the menus ok?"

"Thanks will do" I replied for all of us.

Fang's pov

Eww.

Ok I thought it was a guy thing to undress people with there eyes but this hostess was defiantly doing just that.

"How many people are coming tonight?" she asked looking at me.

"Six" I replied shortly.

"How about we make that 5 and you and I go do something a little different then eating?" Iggy snorted and tried to hold back a laugh.

I was trying to decide whether to say Max was my girlfriend- even though she wasn't and I wish she was, or just say that I was gay. I decided to go with I have a girlfriend and she is right here in my arms as we speak, so back off.

"How about we just keep it at 6 and you get my girlfriend and family a table?" I said venomously.

When we got to our table, in the smoking section I might add, I carefully set Max down and slid her to the other side of the booth. Then I sat next to her.

When the 'Waiter' came I nearly chocked.

He was huge. He had tattoos running up his arms and around his neck. I put my arm protectively around Max's neck. This guy was easily the biggest guy I had ever seen.

"Hello. I will be your server today. Ummm, my name it Tom. I will be your server today. Oh shoot, I already said that!" he looked down at his toes then. When he looked up he looked like he was preparing to run away he was so nervous "uh I'm new. Sorry. I was wondering if you have your drinks picked out for the night?"

That was not what I was expecting to come out of his mouth. How could he be scarred of us? Look at him; he is defiantly the biggest guy I have ever seen. He looked more like a hairless ape he was so big.

Nudge broke the silence, naturally. "I would like a cherry coke and don't worry about being new, we don't mind. I don't think I have ever had a waiter that was new. I think it will be cool. Thanks for being new!" she said all excited like she just won the lotto, so basically in her normal voice.

He let out a deep breath then he looked at Iggy who was sitting next to Nudge. Iggy just kept on 'looking' at the table in front of him, until Angel elbowed him in the side.

"He is looking at you James" then she turned to the massive body builder guy for a waiter "he is blind."

"Oh," the waiter was not very good at concealing his emotions, he seemed shocked.

"I will just have a coke please?" Iggy said in a questioning voice.

Tom turned to Angel next "and for you?"

"Just a coke." She said politely. 'Max raised them right' I was thinking when Gazzy said,

"Same for me please"

Tom turned to look at Gazzy and at that same second he spotted Max in the corner just sitting there. For a second I thought that he was going to hit on her, until he said,

"Missy, who did that to you?" Then his eyes connected with mine and he glared at me, I would have been scarred if I hadn't been in more then 10 fights to the death and was used to this look.

"I was in an accident" Max said quickly in her beautiful voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have made any assumptions, but it looks like someone used you for there punching bag. And he is looking kind of possessive. I'm sorry" he said again, but still slightly angrally. When he said the possessive part he looked at me.

"I would never ever touch her" I said disgusted that he would even think that I could hurt Max. I couldn't, even if I tried I could never hit her "And I would like Lemonade."

"Two lemonades please, and no, I was in an accident." Max said swiftly.

Toms face smoothed out and he said "3 cokes, 1 cherry coke, and 2 lemonades?"

A chorus of "yes" "yup" and "ya" erupted from around the table.

"Ok when I come back with that I am supposed to take your order, so ya, if you're ready, just look at the menus ok?"

"Thanks will do" Max answered for all of us. I didn't mind, as long as she kept talking so that I could hear her voice.

Then he walked away.

Angel spoke first this time. "He thought that Fang hit you Max. He thought that Fang did that to you. And he was going to hurt Fang because his sister used to get abused by her boyfriend and then her boyfriend killed her. Then the mean boyfriend ran away and tom hasn't been able to find him." She said quietly.

I was instantly sickened by the thought to someone who was able to hit a girl that they love. Sure, I could hit a girl eraser or a Whitecoat that had hurt my family but I could never hurt Max, ever.

Angel turned her head to me and smiled 'I am glad that you could not hurt Max or Iggy and Gazzy are thinking that they would try hurt you back.' She thought to me.

'You don't ever have to worry about me hurting her. Ever.' I thought back.

Then Tom came back with the drinks and as he was setting them down on the table he almost dropped them. Iggy reached out and steadied the tray for Tom. When Tom looked up to thank his helper he saw it was Iggy "I thought you were blind? Oh I'm sorry that was rude, I didn't think, sorry." He said.

Iggy laughed. "Don't worry about it. I was born blind, so I have learned to live without my sight" he lied. But really you would have lied to, you can't tell him that scientist experimented on him and he turned out blind can you?

"Umm, are you ready to order now?" he asked.

"Yes could I have and order of the fish and chips. But please bring lots of everything. I am very hungry." Max said and I was trying not to laugh. This guy was in for a surprise.

After we ordered (we all asked for large portions to start off with) Tom went to put our order into the cooking staff.

We all started our own side conversations. Mine was with Max.

"Fang block your mind" Max whispered suddenly out of the blue. I did as I was told and blocked my mind from Angel.

"I really like your plan from earlier and I think that we should try it. And Iggy if you can hear me, then I will let you in on it later tonight" Max said so quietly that I was barley able to make out what she said. I didn't think that there was any why that Iggy had heard, but he nodded slightly so I knew that he had heard it.

Then she returned her voice to normal level.

"Fang be honest, are you tired from carrying me all the way here? I think that we are going to stop soon. I need to get some new shorts. Then we are going to fly some more until we get about 50 miles from there. We will find a hotel there, I think."

"No Max, really I don't mind carrying you. I don't want you to even try to fly for at least a week." I said, partially for her safety and partially because I just loved having her that close to me.

"A week? We heal fast in case you forgot" she argued like I knew that she would.

"The more injuries you have the slower you heal. And you were literally less then a minute from death when I got to you. So you are going to heal slower. And your leg will take a while to heal. You can not walk on it until I tell you that you can" I said. I know, I know I am sounding very bossy, but really, she would try to walk on it and I knew that she would ignore the pain and just hurt herself further.

"Well I have to pee. So are you going to carry me there to?" she asked sarcastically.

I paused, not quite sure what to say, then it hit me. Two could play the sarcastic and out-whit-the-other-player game. "I will carry you to the stall door. Then from there Iggy will do the rest, he is blind so he wont see anything anyways" I said, knowing that she wouldn't agree.

"I was kidding. I am going by myself. Nudge can 'escort' me there if you don't trust me to hop." She made quotations with her fingers around the word escort. Just as I was about to argue Tom showed up with our food.

It was delicious. We chowed down like the homeless orphans that we are. Poor Tom, he said he was new to the waiting profession, meaning he had never ever seen anything remotely as gross as us eat.

**A/N Hey guys. I have decided that I am not going to update every 2 or 3 days anymore. I have up to chapter 10 written and if I update that fast, my pre-written ones will run out very fast. I am in high school, and I dont get to write that ofter, so updating in a more spaced out patturn will make my chapters more regular. I hope. So ya, if you dont like that idea, review and tell me why not ok?**

**Speaking of reviews, I still dont think that I have enough. So if you are going to add me to your favorite author, or story, or story alert, and you like me that much, then why not review? I get so much more motivated when I get reviews, and I will write more if I know that you are review cuz you like it that much. So please review if you like it at all, or if you compleatly hate it. I would like to know why you hate it, or why you love it. So pretty please with a Fang on top? Or max if you are a guy... but to all you girls, a Fang on top is a very good idea...**

**One last thing. There is a story called 'Dirty Little Secret.' It is amazing, and I love it. One of my best friends wrote it, and she is helping me write this, and I am helping her write hers. So if you like this, then you will love hers. It is basically about what would have happened if Jeb were... different. I do not think that there is any out there that is quite like this. It has a darker theme then mine does, but it is still one of the best things ever written! So i would like if you would read and review for that too, Kay? To find it, go to the search bar at the top and dont type in anything. A more specific screan will come up. Put the book under Maximum Ride, and then go under story titles, not key words. Then click search. It is by MGINGA (Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel). If you dont read that one, you may get a very dirty fanfic, so be careful. And just to let you all know, it is not a lemon-y fanfic, if that is what you are thinking, so dont worry. Read that one to please, ok? That would be wonderful.**


	6. Buck, Ajax, and Nicole

**A/N Guys, I found the perfect song for this chapter. It is called face down, by the red jumpsuit aparatis (spelling? just go on youtube under face down and you will see it) and it is perfect for when buck it telling what happened to his sister. it is the best song for him, and i love it beyond any other song for his point of view. **

hapter 6

Buck, Ajax and Nicole

Max's pov

We were now on our fifth helping of fish and chips. I will never understand why they call it fish and chips, they are fries not chips and we are in America not England or I would understand. I think that they call fries 'chips' there.

After Buck came back with our second helping he had taken to looking at the floor to see if we were throwing our food on the ground rather then eating it. He refused to accept the face that we ate a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot, as you know.

I was getting a refill on my lemonade when Buck came walking back. Someone behind him shouted something. He turned his head to that direction. Then he tripped over his own feet. It would have been quite funny if it weren't for the fact that the lemonade was coming straight for me.

Being that I had been raised fighting, I had great reflexes. So I did the first thing that came to mind, I dodged it.

The lemonade still spilt, but luckily not all of it landed on me.

"Oh my god! I am so sorry! You have been so nice to me, and I return that by spilling this on you! I am so sorry, let me go get a cloth to clean up with" and Buck was gone.

Everyone started cracking up before Buck even finished his apology. Even me. Fang got his under control fastest.

"Max, are you ok?" he asked all the while trying to contain his laughs; I knew he was just asking to be polite so I decided to ignore the question and just keep laughing. So I did.

When Buck returned, his face was bright red and he was saying sorry before he was even at the table. I cut him off,

"Buck, it is fine, it was about time we all got a good laugh in. I don't mind, honestly, but don't make it a habit" I joked.

He cracked a smile. "Like I said, I am new, and apparently this is not my field to work in."

"Not to be rude, but why do you work here in the first place, you don't seem like a waiter" I asked, truly curious but not wanting to be rude.

He laughed. "Ya that is a long story."

"Oh ok, if it is personal I understand. Sorry I just thought it would be interesting" I answered quickly, not wanting to push.

"No, no, it's just…alright. Well ok, I am 26. I used to have a younger sister. She was my twin and was younger by like two and a half minutes, her name was Cady. About 5 years ago she meet this guy. His name was Ajax. They started dating. I never really liked the guy; there was something off about him. When I mentioned that to Cady she said that I just thought that way because I didn't think that he was good enough for her and she said he was. After about a year of them dating, she stopped coming to the Friday night dinners. We were a Southern family, and we were close. My mom insisted that it was my fault because I had told her that Ajax couldn't come, it was a family thing, not a family and friend thing. So when I called to apologies no one answered. She wouldn't answer any of our calls. My mom said that was my fault too. Then about six months after she stopped responding to our calls I was at my parent's house, my dad was teaching me how to swing a golf club with the proper form. He, unlike my Mother, didn't hold Cady's withdrawal from the family, against me. When the police showed up is when I knew that something was wrong. The older one came up to me and my pa and said

"'Sir are you Cady Marshals father?'

"When my Dad answered yes the officer bowed his head.

"'There has been some sort of accident. Cady didn't make it.'

"I was so shocked; I thought that they had to have the wrong Cady Marshal. But how many Cady Marshals can there be? So I asked him to repeat himself.

"'We got an anonymous caller this morning that said that they heard a woman screaming, from her house. When we went to check it out no one answered the door. We broke it down. Cady was on the floor, she had no pulse. There is no was to tell what happened, it is still too early. But we can assume that she was beaten to death by the state she was found in.'

"I immediately knew that it was Ajax. I don't know how but I just knew.

"I told the investigating officer what I thought. It turned out I was right. I don't know how they figured it out but they had evidence to prove that Ajax did it. That wasn't the first time he had hit her either. She had fractures in her bones from a year and a half before then. By the time they had enough to convict him, he was gone.

"I have been searching the country looking for him. I have been to all of his relative's houses and none of them have seen him in years. His mom agreed to let me know if she ever sees him again. He liked to hunt and this is a good hunting region, and this restaurant is the only one within at least 50 miles. So if he comes around here, I will know. So I work here."

"Oh my God" Nudge said a minute after he finished.

He looked up at her. Then he looked at Fang. "Sorry, that is why I jumped to conclusions. I'm sickened by the thought of a man who hits a girl. I just saw how you" he flicked his eyes back to me "were very beat up looking and I saw him with his arm around you, I wasn't sure if he was doing that to 'claim' you or to 'protect' you from me. I get that a lot." He chuckled. "I don't look very friendly so most people are scared of me. But I thought that he might have hurt you."

Fang looked Buck straight in the eye. "I can guarantee you that I would never hurt Max. Or anyone else here." He waved his hand around the table, gesturing to the rest of us. "I would never hit a lady either. What does this Ajax guy look like? We travel a lot so we may see him, and I will lead him back here to you."

Bucks face brightened. He reached in his back pocket and pulled out a piece of crumpled up paper.

He handed it to Fang. "Here you can keep this; I will always know what he looks like. He is the guy who ruined my family. If you see him, do whatever you have too to get him to me. Please. You have no idea how much that will help me. I will sleep so much better knowing that someone else is looking for him to."

"We will all look for him, except James, because he is blind, but the rest will look for him, right guys?" I asked. The only problem with this is, I wasn't sure if I would bring the scumbag back, I might just kill him on the spot. He deserved it.

They all nodded. "Ok we are ready for the bill now" Fang said.

"Fang you go pay" I handed him my Max Ride card "and Nudge come with me, I need to pee" I said.

Before I could even get out of the booth Fang called Nudge over to him.

I couldn't here what he said to her, but I think it was something along the lines of "do your best to support her weight into the restroom, let her hop from the stall door on, and wait there for her" but I am not sure, that just sounds like something he would say. If he talked.

So Nudge and I walked to the bathroom door.

"Tell me when you're done Max" Nudge said.

Thankfully I was allowed to sit on the toilet all by myself! Wow I am a big girl! I am kidding, in case you can't tell.

Nudge practically carried me to the stall, I just had to balance. And that still hurt. A lot. But I did it. As soon as the stall door shut I made a face that I am sure did not show how much pain I was in, but it probably came close.

All the sudden I heard the door to the bathroom open and close. When I asked if Nudge was still there I got no response.

Nicole's (the hostess') pov

That stupid blond!

I would have gotten the guy if it weren't for her, I know it. The way he looked at her, I wish someone would look at me like that. But no, no one loves me

like that, they just love to look at me; they don't ever see who I am. Everyone like the blonds, they just love how stupid they are. The fact is, blonds are just as smart, if not smarter then the rest of us and they just have a bad reputation. **(A/N That is for you Michelle.)**

I will make her pay for getting that guy. And I will make her tell me his name. I will need to know that for when I see him next.

'Obviously I can't do anything with him right there, I will have to wait for her to go off on her own. I know she will' I was thinking when I spotted the little blond haired boy get up from the table they were sitting at.  
Then the cute one got up followed by the boy snatcher. God, she couldn't even walk for herself, he had to carry her in, what a freak!

The black girl started walking towards the cute one when he called out "Nudge!" what a stupid nick-name.

Then 'Nudge' started walking toward the blond. She helped her stand up, then 'Nudge' pretty much carried the other one to where the bathrooms were. Ok, she must be really strong to be able to support her weight all the way there. The littler one can't be any older then 14 and she is supporting the older one there. The older one, the blond is probably about 18. **(A/N remember they look older then they are, so that is why she thinks that they are older then they really are.)**

I will have to take down the dark skinned one first. She would protect the helpless blond. Then I will just have to figure out who bruised her pretty face so I can send them some flowers. Then I will knock out the blond. When I leave the bathroom, Mr. Hottie will be waiting for me. He won't have that other distraction; he will see me and fall for me instantly. That is it, he won't look for her, I am way prettier than her, and everyone loves me. He will love me more than he loved her and he will never think about her again. That is all there is to it.

Suddenly the one called Nudge came running from the bathroom. I heard her say something about a Max. Maybe that was the hotties name. Or with the way names in this family were, it could be Blondie's name. Wow that makes my life easier; I only have to take care of Blondie.

When I opened the door I saw the blond hopping out of the stall looking confused.

"What is your name?" I asked in the friendliest tone I could manage, I didn't want her to scream.

"Defiantly not slut, like yours is" she said rudely. That hit home. I am not a slut. I just know what I want, and how to get it.

"That wasn't very nice." I said before I slapped her across the face.

Then I pushed her as hard as I could against the wall. She was solid muscle! How could I push her, it felt like pushing a wall that moved…?

She screamed out in what I could only describe as a pure blood curdling scream of agony. I didn't push her that hard, what is her problem.

Then I saw her leg. It was bent out at the wrong angle. It was broken.

'oh my god! Did I do that! I didn't want to hurt her that bad! Oh my god, I have to get out of here now!'

Nudge's pov

'Nudge get out of there! The rude host lady who sat us at the table is coming! She is going to hurt you!' Angel thought to me. Why would she hurt me? I wondered. But Angel could read minds, so I could trust whatever she said.

So I booked it. I took off running out of that bathroom as fast as I could. I was not going to wait and see why that lady wanted to hurt me. I was going to stay with Max, but Angel said that she was after me, not Max. So I figured that Max was safe.

Angel's pov

'Gosh, this is so stupid; I can go to the bathroom by myself.'

'I wonder if Max is ok, I wish I could be with her, I could help her.'

'Wow. Max isn't as heavy as I thought. I wonder if this hurts her to walk. I think that I probably does. She just won't say anything. That food was good. I like this place. And buck was really nice. I feel bad for him though. That is said with Ajax and everything. I wish I could help. I know we will try though. Max said we would, so we will. I wonder'

'I will have to get the one called Nudge.'

'I wonder what Buck look's like, everyone was silent when he walked up. I know he is big, his footsteps were heavy but, we are in America, they have seen fat people before'

I was sifting through peoples thoughts. Not really on purpose, but just a reflex when we entered a new room. now we were at that counter and Fang was paying.

I was thinking about what I heard when I realized that one voice was not one of the flock's. What did it say, something about Nudge. 'I will have to get the one called Nudge.' Shoot!

'Nudge' I mentally yelled 'get out of there! The rude host who sat us at the table is coming! She is going to hurt you!' I yelled to her.

I thought that the host looked like a normal person, but I couldn't be sure, so I was not going to have Nudge test her to see in she was just a human.

I ran up to Fang to tell him.

Max's pov

I walked out of the stall to look for Nudge and see why she didn't respond when I saw her. That stupid host lady. I now saw that her name tag said Nicole.

"What is your name?" she asked in what was a totally faked nice voice.

I didn't have the best response planned out because I was just thinking about how bad it hurt to stand up. So I said the first thing I could.

"Defiantly not slut, like yours is" I said sarcastically. Normally I wouldn't have said that, but I was in pain like you can not even imagine, and I was still mad about what she said to Fang. I didn't really know why I was mad. I just was.

"Well that wasn't very nice" Nicole growled out. I would have been scarred if it weren't for the fact that I was raised fighting half wolf- half human things.

Then she slapped me. And let me tell you it hurt. I was just beat almost to death two days ago. My face was still covered in bruises. And she hit them. Before I could hit back, and believe me, I was going, to she pushed me.

I was standing on one leg, my good leg. When she pushed me, I fell back onto my still broken leg. I couldn't stop the scream that came out. When I tried I just bit my lip so hard it started bleeding like someone turned on a faucet. I fell down on the bathroom floor.

She froze. I don't think that she knew that I was already hurt. She just stared down at me for a second. Then she saw my leg. I followed her gaze to my leg. It was bent out, not down like it was supposed to be.

Crap! It was re-broken. Just then Nicole got a dazed look in her eyes.

She slowly walked over to the bathroom stall, and then she opened the door. The door swung closed behind her so I didn't know what she was doing, but all the sudden I heard her cough. Then a splash. Then another splash.

Just then Fang burst through the door, closely followed by Angel. Fang ran up to me with a very frantic look in his eye. Angel on the other hand just looked like she was concentrating very hard on something.

"Max, are you ok? What did she do to you?" Fang asked in a rush.

"I'm fine. I think my leg is re-broken but other then that, I am fine."

Then Nicole walked out of the bathroom. Her hair was wet and she still looked very confused and like, well, like she had no idea why she was here. Then it hit me, Angel. Angel had controlled her and made her stick her head in the toilet.

Good, she deserved it.

Angel's pov

Fang and I were sprinting to the bathroom. I have no idea how I was able to almost keep up with him. I am amazed. Then I heard _Nicole_'s thoughts. She was going to try to knock out Max so she wouldn't get in the way. She was never after Nudge; she just needed to get rid of Nudge to get to Max because she saw how close they were.

Then I heard Max's thoughts.

"Defiantly not slut like yours is." She said when _Nicole_ asked her what her name was. I wonder what that means. I will have to ask Max later…

So I did what I thought would help the situation.

I 'asked' _Nicole_ to dunk her head in the toilet until I told her to stop. I figured that Max wouldn't be mad at me for this, and if she was I was positive that Fang would side with me on this one.

Yea Max was the leader of the flock and everything, but she valued Fangs opinion. A lot. Fang is why I get to keep Total. Fang was more of a softie with me, sometimes.

But I knew he was just as mad as me about this so he would agree that _Nicole_ deserved this.

Fang's pov

God I want to kill her. She pushed Max, on Max's broken leg, so now it is re-broken.

I could kill her. Ok so not literally. She didn't know what she was doing, but I but I swear, I, I… I am ticked.

I can't hit her but… maybe I could let Nudge lose on her. That would be funny. I don't have to worry about Nudge; she would be fine even if _Nicole_ is at least 18. With our strength, I could even take Buck. Probably, not that I would, because he seems like a really great guy, ok not like that. Like nice, brotherly. Whatever.

At least Angel made _Nicole_ dunk her head in the toilet. Many times over. That makes me feel a little better. She has black make-up running down her face. In streaks. It is funny. I even smiled when I first saw it.

Max's pov

I want to beat that bi… witch to the ground.

When we walked in here, I was in pain. But with dinner I took some pain pills. Now I am not one for taking meds to get rid of the pain. I could not even breathe it hurt so badly. So I just took them. I figured that maybe I would be able to fly if I could walk right.

No suck luck. Even with the meds I had to depend on Nudge to get me to the bathroom, and then it gets better. I fall on the floor and re-break my leg. Ok so I didn't fall. I was pushed, as you know. That is my luck.

When I asked Angel why she hated me so much, she said that it was because I was with Fang and the redhead, Nicole, wanted Fang to love her. Angel said that Nicole wanted someone to look at her like Fang looked at me. Like I said, my luck. I am not even going out with Fang and I have to deal with getting ambushed in the bathroom by his fan club. Then the leader of it breaks my already broken leg.

And there is nothing I can do about it. I hurt way too much to move, much less kick someone's butt. Even if they are just a human.

Maybe Nudge could do it. Hum. That is an idea. I am sure that she would love to have the honors. 'NO bad Max. You can not send your flock to kick the butt of the girl who kicked yours! That is wrong and taking advantage of them!' I mentally yelled at myself.

_'Max, I think you should get out of there. Go stay in a hotel for the night. Take a hot bath. That will help calm your muscles.' _The voice said to me.

'Wow. For once you are intruding at a not so inconvenient time. I am shocked.' I said, mentally, back.

No reply. That was more like the voice that I knew.

Now we were out in the middle of the restaurant and Buck, Fang, and Iggy were yelling at Nicole.

"If you think that by attacking a guys girlfriend you are going to get the guy, then you need some serous help!" Iggy said in a deadly calm voice. Then he let out a very fake and forced chuckle.

"Seriously, if you were that psycho before you are even dating, not like he would ever date you after that, then what would you do after you had been dating for a while? That alone will scare a guy off!" Buck could control his temper only about half as good as Iggy. So he was yelling not even bothering to try be quiet for the other customers.

Fang was absolutely seething. You didn't have to know him as good as I do to know this. His face was red, his hands were shaking, and he was glaring. The look he was sending this girl would have me running the other way. Ok maybe not, but I would certainly be prepared to run, that is for sure. "You. I can not believe that you would ever attack a girl who is already seriously injured. She can hardly even walk and you push her over. What were you thinking!" Fang shouted. He was obviously angry.

Everyone was yelling at the same time. It was kind of overwhelming. I knew that I needed to get everyone out of here before they said something they might regret.

"Nick, James, lets go" I said still sitting at the booth where the manager of the restaurant was helping fix my leg. Turns out before he went into the food industry, he was an ambulance technician. He was right at home re-setting my leg. He felt bad about not giving me medicine and taking me to the hospital but I told him it wouldn't matter if I went to the hospital, I was allergic to all the pain medicine that they had tried on me. Now they didn't use it anymore because of my bodies' reaction to it.

Fang came back to reality and remembered me. "Ok Max, lets go."

Fang walked up to me. He put his hand out in front of him. Waiting for me to take it I think. That was not going to happen. If he wanted to carry me, he would have to pick me up. I was not going to help him, but I wasn't going to make it too difficult either.

He sighed. "Max you and I both know that you can't walk. Please just let me help you" Fang said in a 'we can do this the hard way, or the easy way, but either way you have not choice' voice.

I gave up and grabbed his hand. The corners of his lips twitched.

He took my hand and put his other hand gently behind my back just under where my wings connected with my back. I didn't it matters how gentle he was, it still hurt. I bit my lip to keep all noises of pain inside. Once his hand was on my back he let go of my hand. Then he slipped that hand under my legs, behind my knees.

Thank goodness my lower shin was broke not the upper part or Fang would not be able to carry me like this, and I didn't know how else he could do it. I felt tears in my eyes and swallowed them back knowing that they would not ease the pain and would just make me seem weaker to my flock.

And we were off. The manager whose name was Tom said that it was on the house. After that he added to come back anytime and our meal would be taken care of.

As we were walking (ok fine, Fang walking, me in his arms) Buck stopped us. He whispered something in Fangs ear that I didn't catch and Fang smirked. "I know. Believe me, I know" he replied looking me straight in the eye. 'I wonder what that was about' I thought.

When we got far enough away from the restaurant that they wouldn't see us, we started for the woods next to the side walk.

"Max, you said that we are staying in a hotel tonight right. Didn't you say that earlier? Well I was thinking that Iggy or Fang could take us shopping for swimsuits and you could stay behind with someone. I could pick one out that would be perfect for you. You may not want to swim this time, but I will get you one just in case. Does that sound good, Max? Can we, can we, can we? Please?" Nudge rambled on.

"Fine!" I cut her off. "That is fine. You can all go, I will be fine by myself" I said.

"Max, I am not leaving you by yourself. I will trust Nudge to pick out my suit too. But Iggy and Gazzy have to ok it. Got it?" Fang said as he turned to look at Nudge. "And I don't want a Speedo. So don't even think about it."

I started laughing so hard it hurt. Bad. Like when, you break a rib and then start coughing. But I broke 4 broken ribs and I was laughing. Other then that, it was the same.

I gritted my teeth and stopped laughing. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. One minute I was laughing my head off, the next I am fighting with myself on whether or not to take some meds that will knock me out. Ok so I wouldn't do that but it sounded nice right now, not being able to feel, just sleeping. Ok I am going to stop before I talk myself into it.

Fang's pov

I was thinking about how at the restaurant when we were walking out Buck stopped me. "You need to show her how much you love her. She is a great girl. Hold her close, but not to close" he whispered so quietly in my ear that if I didn't have enhanced hearing, I wouldn't have heard it. "I know, believe me I know" I replied looking Max straight in the eye. If by some chance she had heard that, I wanted her to know how I felt, without having to directly say anything. It was less risky if she found out like this. I knew that she hadn't heard because the look on her face wasn't outrage, or disgust like how I pictured it whenever I thought of telling her.

I would have to tell her eventually though. Hopefully she feels the same for me, or I would have made a huge fool out of myself.

Being this close to Max does tend to make me forget the bad things that have happened in my life. Not all of the bad things but quite a bit of them.

"Right there!" Angel shouted pointing down at the ground. I followed where she was pointing. It was a hotel. I internally sighed; I wanted to hold Max longer.

Angel giggled. That led me to believe that she was in my head again.

'Angel, you do not have permission to be in my head.'

'Sorry. I just saw you deep in thought and wanted to know what you were thinking about.' Angel thought to me.

"Max? Am I going to get the hotel room, or are you?" I asked hoping that she would do it so I wouldn't have to talk to some guy and tell him where I was going to sleep.

"Well, I was going to get two or three rooms. Not one but, Guys? Do you think that we should get two rooms or three?" Max asked.

"Three!" they all shouted.

"Ok, three it is."

I liked this plan better then having Max sleep on an uncomfortable couch but, who were we all going to room with?

"Fang, you are going to have to put me down if I am getting rooms. They are going to think… bad things if you carry me in and then we want a hotel room. Just put your hand around my waist if you think I am going to fall" Max said.

I saw her point but I didn't trust her strength to walk.

"I will get them. You just sit in the lobby and wait for me to get you ok?" I said giving her the choice cause I didn't want her to think I was taking over but I really didn't want her walking.

She sighed. "Ok" I knew that she didn't like not doing things for herself but… I needed her to be safe so I was going to do whatever I could so she would be.

We landed in an ally between the building next to the hotel and the one next to that. Iggy came walking over.

"Will you sit in the lobby while I get the rooms?" I asked. His look questioned why I was getting the room but he didn't ask, thankfully.

"Sure. Try to get adjoining rooms if you can." He replied.

As we approached the hotel I started getting nervous. I had no idea why but I was nervous. I set Max down on one of the biggest puffiest chairs and the rest of the flock followed suit sitting down on the chairs and couches. I left her there giving Iggy a significant look that said 'watch her' and 'protect her' all in one.

Then I walked away towards the front desk, keeping my head down the whole time.

When I got closer I lifted my head and saw that a cute girl was working the desk. She was smiling at me with the same kind of smile that the waitress had but slightly less disgusting because she wasn't looking me up and down.

"Hello. Could I have three rooms? Adjoining if you can?" I asked politely.

"Umm. We, err, only have, err, four rooms left err, and they aren't adjoining, err, and one is smoking, but the other 3 are on the same floor, err… is that ok?" she stuttered out. If I hadn't had so mush practice holding in my emotions, then I would have laughed.

But I didn't want to embarrass her further so I said "yes that is fine I want the three non- smoking."

"And there on, err, the second floor. Is that ok?" she asked slightly more composed.

"Yes" I said handing her the Max ride card.

She ran the card through the register. "Ok you have rooms 205, 217, and 227, all the rooms have queen beds." she handed the card back to me.

"Thanks" I said.

"If you need anything, we have complementary breakfast, and toiletries. Have a nice night" she said. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Well that was blunt.

I glanced at Max. "Yea. And I am very happy with her" I said hoping against hope that that would soon be the case.

"Oh, is it that blond over there?" she asked, backing down a little.

"Yes" I said, again wishing it was true.

I grabbed the keys and walked back over to where the rest of the flock was. Hoping that none of them heard that, especially Max.

"Ok, how are we goanna do this? Rooms I mean" Iggy asked. "I want with Gazzy if I can, we have had time to… talk… in a while."

"Oh ya ya ya! And I can be with Angel! And I can do your hair! And we can get really pretty!" Nudge said ecstatic.

I nearly groaned. That left one other person. Max, and somehow I think this was pre-arranged. I would have to talk to Iggy later.

"Alright" Max said obviously not realizing the problem yet. "And that leaves me and…" she trailed off. That was more of the response I was expecting. "Ok" she said after a long pause.

I handed out the keys and started for the elevator. "Fang, I am not going in there" Max said.

"Unless you want me to carry you then you are. You are not going up those stairs" I said in an end of discussion tone.

"Then you are carrying me" she said stubbornly. "I am not going on there when I can't run off there as soon as the doors open."

"I'm with her" Iggy said.

So we started for the stairs. It was only one floor so I knew I could carry Max there. It was easier to carry her on the ground then in the air, but I liked carrying her so much that I didn't even notice I was tired until I landed. Even then it was worth it.

Max and I took room 217 figuring that it was in the middle of the other rooms.

When we walked in, she turned to me with an apprehensive look on her face. "Fang, I am just going to call my mom, and watch TV. You can go shopping to if you want" she said.

I almost laughed. "Go shopping with Nudge, or relax. Hard choice" I said. But really it was shopping with Nudge, or relaxing with Max. We all know which one I will choose every time.

Now it was her turn to fight a laugh. "Ok ok, I agree. Will you get Nudge?" she asked me.

On my way out I thought about the room. It had a loveseat type couch in front of the TV. The queen bed was in the middle of the room. And in the hallway to exit the room there was another door, which I assume leads to the bathroom.

"Nudge, Max wants you. I think it is about shopping" I said when Angel opened the door, hearing my thoughts I think. We were all walking back to our room when I decided that I was not going to say anything to Nudge or angle about the rooms being a set up. They would just look all innocent and say they had no idea what I was talking about, so it wasn't worth it.

When we walked in the room Max was poking at her ribs, assessing how healed they were, it think. She looked up and smiled when we walked in.

"Nudge, you are in charge of my bathing suit. You know my tastes; try to go with that please? If you get one that is too skimpy, then I will be mad, and pick out your clothes next time we go shopping" Max said smirking at what she would buy Nudge.

"Ok Max. What color do you want?" Nudge asked in a un-charectically short sentence.

"I don't care what color, just get one that is cute and not reveling. Ok?" Max said, much to my disappointment.

Angel snickered. I am hoping that she was laughed at what Max thought and not at what I thought, I didn't really want her to hear that.

"Max, what does Slut mean?" Angel asked.

I instantly blocked my mind. Oh god, where did she hear that?

"I don't know sweetie." Max replied.

"Then why did you block your mind?" Angel asked, faking innocence.

"Angel, don't repeat that word, and I will tell you sooner or later" Max said, clearly trying to distract Angel. "And Angel, tell Iggy that he is in charge and I will skin him alive if you separate, so you will wait while they shop, and they will wait while you shop. Got it?" she looked at Nudge and Angel when she said this, telling them that she was serious.

About 10 minutes later everyone but me and Max took off to go shopping. So that left us alone. 'Oh god. What am I going to say for hours while they are gone?' I wondered.

I am going to have to say something. Just cause I don't talk that much doesn't mean that I will not say one word in a few hours. And yes it will take hours for Nudge to get bathing suits. So get comfy.

**A/N Hey guys. I hope that you like this chapter. It is my longest chapter yet with 6,698 words. (without the authors note) So ya, I hope that you like it, even if it is sorta slow at some points. Oh, and just so you know, I spent a long time writing that part with Ajax in it, so I hope that you like it. do you? It especially entertained my friend while she was visiting family in hillbilly ville U.S.A. so ya. Hope you like it, and if you do, how about you review and tell me? i think that you should, for the sake of my sanity. I am about to begin writing chapter 11 and if you want it to be normal and not compleatly insane then you should review. So I will pm you with your opinion. Or just review, i would prefer that, but i wont be picky, i will take either. So ya...**

**Oh, and if you havent checked out 'Dirty Little Secret' then you are crazy. Didnt i tell you that it is amazing, and that you would love it? i am sure that i did, so you had better read it, or i will sick Omega 2 on you. ok, so i'm not that mean, but i will think aobut it. so read it, and review for that one too, got it? Thanks. **

**And just to tell you, I am VERY against domestic violence, and this is my tribute to the women stuck in those postitions. it is not as easy to leave as you may think it is. you begin to feel like that is all you deserve, so you stay and think that whenever he hits you, it is your fault. dont judge them becasue they stay in that situation, help them. help like their life depends on it, becasue it does. i just wanted to tell you all that. ok? so this is just my opinion on why i put this in my story, becasue i feel that many people think htat you are stupid to stay in those types of situations, and many times, you can not get out, becasue you have no where to go, or he will follow you, or you think htat it is all your fault, or your kids wont come with you, and they are to big for you to force them to, and you will not put them through that. so for whatever reasong, they are not stupid for staying, they jsut are not thinking clearly. be a friend, help them to think clearly. **

**sorry about the rant up there, but i feel very strongly about that, so that just had to get out. review please.**


	7. Phone Calls and Memories

Chapter 7

Phone calls, and Memories

Max's pov

"Max?" Mr. Tall, dark, gorgeous, quite, handsome, and just, flat out amazing asked.

"Um-hum?" I said absentmindedly, I was thinking about a certain someone, not really paying attention to anything else.

"What were you going to say that night a couple of days ago, before Omega 2 came?" he asked, truly interested, for him to bring it up again.

"Umm, I don't know what your talking about." I said, I really didn't, I was not sure what question he had asked, I just knew I didn't want to answer it.

"Yes you do, I asked about Sam" he said to refresh my memory. Oh yea, that. Maybe if I told him to forget it he would. Just as I was about to, I looked in his eyes and saw that he was determined to get his answer. That was the only emotion you ever saw in Fangs eyes, determination.

"Fang, I haven't seen him in more then 2 months, and last time I saw him, not only was I running from Whitecoats, but he looked like an eraser. What makes you think that I would still like him?" I said, carefully leaving out the part about how he pales in comparison to Fang. I didn't want to talk about that right now, or ever, for that matter.

"Oh, I just wondered." He said, not meeting my eye, again.

"What about Lissa? You still like her?" I asked not realizing what I was saying, until it was already out of my mouth.

He laughed. "I never liked her."

I opened my mouth to ask why he was sticking his tongue down her throat then. But I thought better of that, I decided that I should think over what I was going to say, before I said it, therefore I wouldn't make an idiot out of myself.

"Oh, well the way you acted around her, it seemed like you liked her." I said, hoping he would explain his actions, but not wanting to ask him to.

I was met with silence. This is more like I was expecting. Then he shocked me with an answer.

"Alright, don't think me to low. Just hear me out ok Max?" he asked before continuing, making sure that I nodded in consent. "Ok, Lissa had been flirting with me all day. She wasn't the most subtle either. Then she 'accidentally' dropped her books and asked me to help her pick them up. I didn't want to be rude so I stayed. After we got them picked up, the room was empty. Then she just started kissing me. I hadn't ever kissed a girl before. I had been kissed" he gave me a significant glance "but I had never kissed back. So I just went with it." He stopped, looking at me like he was waiting for me to blow up at him for taking advantage of her, with I would have, but I said I would stay quiet "but then I felt bad. I didn't like her, so it didn't mean anything to me. But when I tried to tell her this, I felt even worse. I didn't want to just kiss her and then not do anything about it. So I figured that she would dump me soon enough, I dont have the best manners. She just didn't quit though. She was so clingy. It was annoying. I was happy to leave, but sad, cause you and the kids liked it there," he said.

"Oh I was just curious. Not like it matters or anything. Just curious." I said, making sure that he _thought _I wasn't interested.

"Yea, same here, just curious" Fang said.

There was a long pause. Not like an uncomfortable pause, but a relaxed and comfortable silence.

"Fang, what should we do next?" I asked, needing to feel less lost.

"If you don't want to do my idea, then I don't know."

"You mean the one with the… ambushes and stuff. I do like that idea" I said seeing him nod "where should we start? We have to be completely prepared for them when we come. I am not going back because we lead them to us."

"First we need a gun, and know how to shoot it." He looked at me for my approval. "Then we have to get the perfect spot to stage the first attack."

"Why couldn't Jeb have taught us to shoot a gun? It would be easier if I was raised thinking that they were for protection, not hurting people. Then Jeb could have taught us, and we would already be good?" I spoke more to myself, not expecting an answer.

"It is better if he doesn't expect it. I don't know if we can trust him, and till we can, it is better to shock them. As long as no erasers make it out of there alive, then they still won't know that we have guns. Not that we are going to use it" he added, noticing my glare.

"Not unless we have to. But we aren't keeping it, unless we know how to use it" I said "so before anything can happen, we have to learn to shoot it."

"We can go to a hunting range and take lessons" Fang suggested.

"If they get to close, then they would feel our wings. And we can't try to learn by ourselves, we might shoot someone."

"Isn't that the point of a gun, to shoot someone" Fang asked mocking me.

"You know what I mean, like us, and that would be bad. I don't want to ever get shot again. I still want to kill those thugs who shot me when I went after Ella. And that reminds me, I have to call my mom."

I started to get up and get the phone, but winced when I attempted to move my leg.

"What? What do you want, I'll get it." Fang said hurriedly so I didn't hurt myself getting up.

"I hate being helpless" I muttered. Then I looked up to him "could you get me my cell phone?" **(A/N remember, her mom got her one in the 4th book)**

"You are the farthest from helpless that I have ever seen. Other then myself, of course." He joked as he got up.

"Thanks."

I dialed the number, hoping that she would pick up, I hadn't talked to her in a long time and I missed her, that was something I was not used to, missing someone, I mean.

"Hello" a voice answered angrily.

"Mom?" I questioned.

"Oh, sorry Max. The caller id said 'out of range' and I have been getting telemarketers from 'out of range' numbers. I thought you were one of them. How are you? What have you been doing? I haven't talked to you in so long. Tell me everything." She said in a much happier voice.

"I am fine and have been up to the same old same old, you know, fighting off erasers, and saving Fangs butt" he shot me a glare. "Ok fine, he saved me, but still, whatever."

She laughed. "Ya same old, same old. But, why did Fang have to save you?" she said the first part like a joke, but the last part was 100 serious.

"That guy from Germany that I had to fight, Omega, he has a clone."

"Did they find you?" she asked in a frightened voice.

"No we're fine." Fang shot me another look like 'don't lie to your mother' "the clone may have hurt me a little, but I'm fine. And so you don't have to worry" I said chipper.

"What exactly does 'hurt a little' mean?"

"Nothing to big, it sounds worse then it is" I said. Again, a glare from Fang.

"What does 'a little' mean?" she asked in a much more forced voice.

"4 broken ribs, a broken leg, broken face, and bruises" I said offhandedly.

"Don't forget the wings Max" Fang said with a teasing smile, just loud enough for my mom to hear.

"What!" my mom shrieked.

"There days old. I'm fine, don't worry, calm down!" I said quickly so she wouldn't start hyperventilating, it sounded like she might right about now.

"Are you sure? I could some time off work, and you could come see me, I could fix it some?" she said, pleaded.

"No really, I'm fine, really."

She seemed to calm down enough to come back to her senses "who was that in the background?" she asked, not accusingly just curious.

"Um Fang" I said, relieved that she was not frantic anymore.

"Oh, where is everyone else?"

"Umm there out shopping. Me and Fang are just in the hotel room hanging out and stuff" I replied.

"What kind of stuff? Max I know that you haven't knows me that long but, I am still your mother. And I do not want you alone in hotel rooms with boys. I also know that I can not tell you what to do, I just want you to listen, and you are still young. And just because you" I cut her off. I didn't want to hear what she was going to say next, I want only here because I couldn't go shopping, and I wanted her to know that.

"Umm Mom? Everyone else went shopping. I can't walk remember? So I can't shop, and Fang volunteered to be here with me in case I needed help with something" I said quickly so she couldn't cut me off.

"Why can't you walk?" she asked with a hint of worrying in her voice.

"I broke my leg, 'member?"

"But that was days ago, I know it wouldn't heal that fast, but I thought that you would be able to walk by now."

"Don't freak out ok? The more you get hurt, the slower you heal, and I unfortunately got pretty beat up. Then it just got re-broken today."

"How did it re-break? Did you get attacked again?!" she asked on the verge of hyperventilation again.

"No one of Fangs… fans girls, attacked me. She thought that Fang and I where going out. She pushed me over, and I landed on it wrong. But a paramedic re-set it." No need to add that that particular paramedic had been retired for years.

"Why did she think Fang and you…" she trailed off.

"I still couldn't walk good. So he was carrying me in, and she thought that he was carrying me cause he wanted to or something" now I was trying not to blush.

"Are you and Fang… boyfriend and girlfriend?" she asked tentatively.

"No!" I nearly shouted in the phone.

"Ok ok, sorry. I am just wondering, I am your mother you know. That is why I am so curious."

"How is Ella?" I asked

"She is great. She's right here, do you want to talk to her?" my mom asked. That is what I don't understand. If they are right there, and you ask do you want to talk to them and then you say no, that is just rude. But I did want to talk to Ella, so that wasn't a problem.

"Oh yea!" I said excitedly.

"Ok, bye honey, I mean Max. Come visit soon, you are always welcome" she said sweetly.

"Bye Mom." Then another voice was on the phone.

"Hey Max! It's been so long, when are you coming? How are you?" she bombarded me with questions to, like mom did.

I laughed "I'm great. I have no idea when I can come. We will just have to play it by ear. When I show up, I'm there." I said feeling bad about not planning ahead, but I couldn't, what if the line was tapped? I got my question answering skill from living with Nudge for 11 years, by the way.

"Oh okay. But visit soon. I miss you" she said still very happy.

I laughed. "Are you really that obsessed with mutants that you want us there all the time" I joked.

"No but I do miss my sister. I want to see her."

"Stop talking in third person. I will try to come soon."

"Ok. Hey, what was that about you and Fang going out?" she asked, taunting me.

"Nothing. Mom just assumed because I am in a hotel with him. We are not dating" I stated looking away from Fang.

"You. Are. In. A. Hotel. With. Fang. And you think it is nothing?!" she shrieked into the phone.

"We are waiting for Nudge to come back so we can go swimming. That's it." I said coolly. I was now looking at Fang with a pleading expression, hoping that he would agree with me loud enough for Ella to hear.

"Oh. Oh my god, sorry. I just, oh god. Sorry. SORRY FANG!" she shouted into the phone, nearly blowing my eardrum out.

Fang came up on my other side and yelled into the phone "don't worry about it, Ella!"

I tried to hit him, but my good hand was holding the phone, so I hit him with my broken hand. By hit I mean punched. I am not one of those sissy girls who slap guys, I punch them. But this time I wish I would have slapped him, it would have been better on my joints.

I hissed in pain.

"What's wrong Max?!" Ella said after hearing my noise of pain.

"Oh god Max! Are you ok?" Fang said after I punched him. Why was he asking me if I was ok, when I punched him, granted I didn't punch him hard, just hard enough to get the message across that you don't yell in my ear?

"I'm. Fine." I said through gritted teeth.

"What did you do?" Ella questioned.

"I punched Fang" I said shooting him a glare.

"And that hurt you?" She said between laughs.

"With my hand that all the joints got ripped out of place. Twice" I stated in a not so friendly voice. I did not want her to think that I was so weak that I couldn't even punch someone without getting hurt.

"Oh my God! How did that happen?!" she said; great, now she was frantic.

"I got in a fight… and lost" I added grudgingly.

"Who was able to beat you?" she questioned, not as worried anymore.

"Omega 2, the Omega from Germany's clone. Don't underestimate your enemies" I said, this time to Ella, but joking.

"Yea, I know what you mean" she laughed a very fake and very cold laugh.

"What I mean about what?" I said, going into older sister mode.

"Oh, nothing. Just some guys from school."

"Which guys?" I said, no, demanded.

"The ones you saved me from?" she said, making it sound like a question.

"What!" I could just picture her wincing from the tone in my voice.

"Its not to bad, just I thought that José changed. I was tricked. But like I said, no big deal. Some people took care of it."

"You sound like you're in the mafia." I joked "but really, what happened" I said, serious again.

"It's nothing" she insisted.

"Do you want me to go visit this José guy, and see what happened for myself?" I threatened. Fang looked me in the eye, like 'what happened?'

'I don't know' I mouthed to him.

"Fine. He apologized about 2 weeks after, the incident. I thought he changed" she said again, choosing her words carefully.

"And?" I pried.

"And I may have had a little crush on him" she squeaked.

"You had a crush on the guy who tried to kill you, and shot me?" I stated in a flat tone. It really wasn't a question, more like a statement.

Fang looked at me with his eyebrows raised.

"Ya, but didn't you have a crush on an eraser?" she said. Bringing up Sam was low.

"That was before I knew he was an eraser, and I don't know for sure that he is. But we are talking about you right now" I was now making a pathetic attempt at getting the subject off of me and Sam. I had already talked about him enough for today, thank you very much.

"Well I thought he had changed. And I didn't just like him the second he apologized. I was friends for about a week and a half first." She said, defending herself. "I figured that he really had changed. He got his friends to apologize to. It wasn't even half as 'sincere' as his was, but it is the thought that counts and he tried. And he tricked me" she stated again.

"How did he trick you?" I asked gently, assuming this was not going to end well.

"The reason that they were after me in the first place is I overheard them talking about the best place to jump some guy. I warned him about it and when he was ready for it the idiot told them that I warned him" I was ready to hurt this guy; he ratted out someone who put themselves in danger to help him. "So they wanted to get back at me, you saved me, and kicked there butt, good job by the way. So after a while he asked me out. I said yes and he told me to meet him at the movies. When I got there he wasn't in the lobby. All the sudden he was there and bought my ticket to some movie that had been out for a long time, and was getting taken out of theaters the next day. When we got in there, the three other guys that wanted revenge were there. They didn't know that I had picked up a few moves from my savior" cough-you-cough "so I knocked José feet out from under him, and took off. Once I got out of the theater, I called mom. I got out fine, but I never thought that even José's gang was low enough to trick someone like that. I underestimated them. But it worked out. So forget it" she said.

"I am going to kill them. Once I can walk that is" I added as an after thought.

"No Max. Its fine, Jimmy took care of them. The will never touch me again, I can promise you that" she said with lots of confidence in her answer.

"Oh good Lord. Who's Jimmy?" I asked.

She laughed. "He is just a friend. I don't like him, I swear. He is dating my 2nd best friend, and has been for years. He is huge, like really strong, and when I called Becky crying, they were on a date, and he got really mad. So he went after those scumbags to teach them a lesson. They were in the hospital for, I don't know, at least a week probably more."

"I think I like this guy" I said after a moment. Fang looked at me like 'what are you smoking' look. This just caused me to laugh. He obviously didn't know what was going on.

"Whats so funny?" Ella asked irritated.

"Fang just made a really really cute face" I chocked out between laughs.

Then I realized what I said. My face instantly burned with heat. "I mean funny. Funny is what I meant" I said, hoping that Fang, at the least, would believe it.

Now it was his turn to laugh. Well his equivalent to a laugh, a smile. "So my face is cute is it?" Fang said, looking me straight in the eye.

"N, no, no, I said funny. Not cute." I stuttered out. Curse you embarrassment, you make me stutter.

"You so think Fang is cute! Oh that is so sweet! 'Childhood friends who were with each other through torture, and when they slept in trees, now they have a house of there own and are awaiting the day they get married'" she said in an announcer voice. Loud enough for Fang to hear, I might add.

The smile was instantly whipped off of his face. Back to the poker face for Fang.

"Ella, I am going to hang up." I stated calmly.

"Don't, Don't. I'm sorry. That was just too funny, you set yourself up for that to!" she joked.

My face was still burning, but I was trying to forgive her. Ya right, I was planning revenge for next time I saw her. I truely pity her now...

"So who do you like now? Now that you are over the attempted murderer, that is." I said, trying to irk her.

"That depends, who do you like?" she said in an equally offhanded voice.

"No one." I said. And it was true, I love Fang, not like him. And both of us were acting like the whole 'I need you' thing earlier happened.

"What about Fang. He is cute." She said knowingly.

"What about Fang. Oh my gosh! You like Fang" I said knowing that she did not and was insinuating that I did.

"Eww! No I so do not like Fang. NO OFFENSE!" she yelled.

"Oh so now I am eww?" Fang said, with a hint of a smirk on his face.

"No you are not 'eww' but you are taken" she said in that annoying way she had of knowing how to embarrass me.

"Oh who am I taken by?" he said.

"Would you like to talk to Fang?" I asked Ella, annoyed. But really I just wanted her to stop before she said something both of us would regret, for different reasons. Me, because I would die of embarrassment, and her cause she wouldn't be able to walk for at least a week. I would go easy on her cause she is family.

"Sorry" she said, sensing my embarrassment, and misreading it as anger.

"How is school?" I asked, changing the topic to a safer subject.

"Fine, You?" she said joking.

"Oh it is wonderful. I learned how to cook dessert rat to perfection" I said kidding, also.

"Ok that is just to gross to joke about Max. I would never eat rat."

"I have. And with as many calories as I need, it was after the equivalent to about 6 days with no food. I have learned not to be picky, and not to ask what it is, just eat whatever Iggy makes without question" I replied like it was no big deal. But I really thought it was quite disgusting, but I was not admitting that, it would make me seem like some high-maintenance girl. Which I was not, by the way.

"Ok, fine. Maybe I would eat it then, maybe."

"I think you would" I said truthfully.

"Oh oh, I have to go ok? Someone just rang the doorbell. I have to get it, so I will talk to you later ok?" she said excitedly. Too excited. She was expecting someone, I guessed. I would have to talk to her next time I saw or talked to her.

"Alright. I will try not to get knocked out for two days so I can call you more often, Bye!" I said.

"Buh-bye," she said happily.

"So, which one of her friends do you like?" Fang said casually, but I could tell that he was avoiding my eye more then usual.

"Oh when those guys who shot me went after her again, her 2nd best friend's boyfriend put them in the hospital for over a week" I said. 'I wonder who her best friend is?' I wondered to myself. "That was really nice of him, to put himself in danger, just to help her get her revenge."

"Yea I guess. Was that my hint to go after them too? To help you get your revenge?" he said smiling, fine, his version of a smile, anyways.

I almost laughed, but then remembered how it hurt to laugh harder then a small chuckle.

"No, I think I got some pretty good hits in before I got shot and took off" I said, revealing for the first time that I ran away from a fight with a few puny humans.

Thankfully he was smart enough not to say anything about it though.

"Good. They need to regulate who they give guns to" he said.

"Yea, like not giving them to mutants who plan on blowing things up" I said, fighting a smile again. I was trying to be serious and looking in Fangs eyes you could tell that inside he was laughing. Man I loved his eyes. They are so gorgeous. 'Stop it!' I yelled to myself. 'He is your best friend! Stop it!' I said again, for empathies.

"Max, are you ok?" he asked looking worried. I must have spaced out. "Voice?" he questioned.

"Uh, no, sorry, just spaced out" I admitted.

"You spaced out, while looking at me?" he said with his arrogant smirk on his face.

"While thinking about blowing things up" I corrected. Lying, I might add.

"You can't lie to me, I know you too well" Fang said, now full out smirking.

"Whatever" I said embarrassed again. What was with me and getting all self conscious? This is getting out of hand.

"If that is what you want" he said.

After that we drifted into a comfortable silence. That is until we heard Nudges voice coming down the hallway.

"Oh gosh, that was so fun! I can't wait to show Max her bathing suit. I think she will love it! It is perfect, so pretty and, just perfect. I think Fang will like his too, I am glad that we didn't get him a Speedo, that would have burned my eyes out. His is going to knock Max off her feet. Has anyone else noticed, I think that she might like him? What do you guys think?" she finally ended, getting louder the closer she came.

My eyes were wide, I could tell. And my cheeks were flaming, again.

"Ya, ya, ya. Get your keys out. Put your suits in your room then we will go see Max and Fang. And don't forget to knock; you never know what you might interrupt" Iggy said. I was going to thank him after that first part, but he lost that thank you after what he said next.

I looked at Fang and he looked as mad as me. Good, a mad Fang is not someone you mess with, but Iggy wouldn't know Fang was mad, so when he came in, he may just say the thing that sets Fang off. I was fine with that, Iggy had it coming after that first comment.

As expected, a few minutes later Iggy knocked on the door three times, and then opened it with is hand covering his eyes, a pointless gesture, seeing as he was blind.

"Stop what you are doing, there are children present" Iggy half shouted.

"Oh Fang, get off me" I said my voice filled with sarcasm.

"Iggy we heard you coming down the hallway. And I could kill you right now, stop hinting that we are doing something or I may just kill you. We both know I could, so watch your back" I said in a very mild, but still scary voice

"Sorry. I thought it was funny" he said, backing up slightly and his voice quivering.

"I'm just kidding, Ig. I won't hurt you, you can stop hiding, but seriously stop with the dirty comments" I said to the perv.

"You will not get a warning next time from Max" Fang said in a eerie, funny, but serious, voice.

Fang's pov

Seriously, what is Iggys problem? Erg, I could just kill him! He is saying stuff about Max that makes me want to kill him for even thinking about her that way, even if he is only talking about what I am doing with her (which I am not!).

"Oh this is so exciting! I cant wait to show Max her bathing suit. Wait, do you think Fang will like his, I like it, but he might not. Maybe you should show it to him, and I will wait out here? Just kidding Angel! I wouldn't do that to you! Oh I can hardly wait!" Nudge said as she was coming from there room to ours then she knocked on our door.

"Come on, Nudge. It will be fine; Max won't let him kill you. And we both know that that he has a soft spot for us younger girls." Angel said to Nudge giggling.

How does she know that! I mean sure, I do have a soft spot for Nudge and Angel, Angel just cause she is so sweet and innocent even after all we have been through she is still so gentle, most of the time. And Nudge because of that time at the hawk caves. She was so brave and strong even when we didn't know what to do. Max was late, and Angel was at the school, even then she still was her talkative self.

I know, that sounded really cheesy and girly, but it was true.

But that soft spot disappeared when they opened the door with mischievous grins on there faces.

"What did you do?" Max asked, thinking the same thing I was.

"Nothing. We just can't wait to show you your bathing suits, is all" Angel said.

"Let me see 'um" she said, again faking calm.

"Ok, do you like it?" Angel said holding it up. The suit would look amazing on Max. Well, anything would look amazing on Max, even rags, but this would look even better then amazing. The top was a V. neck that ties behind her neck, and was an aqua and brown that went good together. The only thing that I didn't like about the top was that it went all the way down to where the bottoms start. The bottoms were just plain brown, and were normal bottoms. Nothing special about them, until Max put them on, that is.

"Ok. That isn't to bad Nudge. Fine, who am I kidding, I love it. I'm shocked, you did good, thanks Nudge" Max said happily.

"And, what does mine look like?" I said cautiously.

Angel held it up. It wasn't bad, it was black, and had white flowers on it. Ok that sounds again with the sounding girly, but they were manly flowers, not chick flowers.

**A/N there are pictures on my website. just go to my profile, and at the very very bottom, there is a link. click it, then a new window will show up, go to photo gallary, and then the flocks swimming suits. there is also my perfect flock, othere then max on there to, if you want to check it out. have fun!**

Max's pov

I loved my bathing suit. It was perfect, it didn't show too much, but it didn't make me look like a nun either.

But Fangs. His was beyond words. It would look so good on him. No, not good, perfect. I want to go swimming now. Right now.

'He is thinking the same thing, Max. "But he doesn't want you to get hurt, so he isn't going to suggest that we go' Angel thought to me.

'Fang is thinking I would look perfect in that bathing suit?' I asked, confirming what she had said, because I didn't believe it.

'No. He is thinking a different word, not perfect, 'hot'' she said, in my mind, that is.

Inside I was doing the happy dance. But on the outside, I was still too hurt to move a whole lot.

"Can we go swimming now Max? We haven't swam in sooooooo long. I can't wait to go. When was the last time we went swimming do you guys think? I don't know either, but it was a long time ago." Guess who that was. Nudge, she didn't even pause to let us answer her questions.

"Ya you guys can go, if you can find somewhere to go with no other people there, and you can get Iggy and Fang to go with you." I said, knowing that there was no way I could resist the puppy eyes on this one.

"I will get the desk lady to let us swim by our self. She will tell everyone that the pool is under construction. Or that it is being cleaned after an accident…" Angel said thoughtfully.

Several minutes later the phone rang, and I faintly heard a girl's voice say something, after Fang picked it up.

"Ok, we can go" Fang said.

"Don't forget to change, first" I said, and judging by Nudges reaction, she would have.

"Aren't you coming Max" Angel asked sweetly.

"I am going to take a bath; the voice said that it would be good for my muscles to be in hot water. All the pulled ones would heal better" I said, retelling what the voice had said earlier, on the flight here.

"There is a hot tub. You are coming" Iggy said.

I really did want to go; I just didn't want to have to be carried there. It was degrading. But I gave in.

"Give me my suit Nudge" I said, telling them that I was going.

She squealed. Loudly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she pretty much shrieked in a hushed tone. That way we wouldn't get security called on us.

I grabbed my swim suit from Nudge and then realized a new problem; I cant stand, much less change.

Fang solved my problem. "Everyone out. Max has to change" he said while leaving the room.

Ok, this I could do. I just had to sit here and try not to move to much while I change.

The top was easy. My arms we fine, other then the bruises. I just had to be careful with my hand, and I was fine.

The bottoms were not so easy. First I removed my shorts, I mean, Fangs shorts. Then when they were down by my ankles I pulled my good leg up to me to slip the shorts off of that leg. Then I used that leg to get the shorts off of my other leg.

My underwear presented the biggest task. I had to remove them while not moving my leg, but get them off. Finally I gave up and jerked my hurt leg up to me to where I could reach it, and then I pulled off the buggers. Well, that was the theory. The first part worked, so did the second part, after a minute or two of biting my lip to hold in all signs of weakness.

Then I slipped on the bottom to my bathing suit. That wasn't as easy as it sounds either. I put my bad leg in first, followed by my good leg. Then I pulled them up. I had to move my leg several times to do this, and it hurt. Just as I finished pulling up my shorts Fang knocked on the door.

"Max, are you ok?" Fang asked.

"Ya, I'm fine. I'm done" I said so that he would come in and we could stop talking through the door.

When he opened the bathroom door doing anything, but ogling flew out the window. I don't think I could have put together a decent sentence if I tried.

He had his shirt thrown carelessly over his shoulder, and he was in his swim trunks. Only his swim trunks. 'He has the best six pack I have ever seen' I thought 'and arms, man, when did he have time to go to the gym?'

Fang's pov

I will defiantly have to thank Iggy for telling Max about the hot tub. Now she is getting dressed and I am waiting for her to finish so we can go.

'Well I am here' I thought making sure that my hair was perfect. As perfect as it gets, that is. I looked in the bathroom mirror trying out different ways to put my shirt over my shoulder and make it look casual. Once I found the perfect way I started to get worried.

"Max, are you ok?" I asked.

"Ya, I'm fine. I'm done" she said, sounding like she didn't want to yell through the door anymore.

I opened the door and walked out. When I saw her I had to work to keep my jaw off the floor. She was just sitting there on the bed, but she looked perfect. Her hair was put up off her neck and she had a very cute and goofy smile on her face. I was right, that bathing suit was perfect for her, she looked so beautiful in it. 'Man I love this girl' I thought. Wait where did that come from?!

"Hey," was all I could manage.

"Hi," she replied, adding in a little wave. I stared, at a loss of words. Okay, word. I'm not a big talking person...

Iggys pov

"Where are Max and Fang? Why aren't they out here yet? I wonder what they are doing. Sometimes I think that no one is listening to me. Are you guys listening? I hope so. Good you are? Ok then do you know where Max and Fang are?" Nudge asked.

"Please, before my ears start bleeding, be quiet" I said, trying to be nice and failing entirely. "I need to hear what they are doing" I said pressing my ear on there door, listening.

"I don't hear anything" I said quietly.

'They are just thinking about each other' Angel thought to all of us.

So I opened the door. It wasn't locked, they had the deadbolt locked before they closed the door, so that it wouldn't lock.

What they were doing I would never know. But Nudge apparently thought it was very amusing.

"Aww. You guys so like each other. You are just sitting there staring. It is so cute. You guys would be so cute" apparently that is when Fang snapped out of whatever they were doing.

"Be there in a minute" he said to them, telling them to leave.

After we walked out Nudge started explaining what we walked in on. Apparently, they were sitting there gawking at each other, not even blinking. I thing that is pretty funny, personally.

And sweet. I don't know, I just think that it is awesome that Fang has someone that he thinks is so beautiful that he can just stare at her all day. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be able to stare anyways, but it is still a nice thought. I wish I had someone like that. For some reason, I felt like I already knew who I was going to end up with, but I couldn't put my finger on their name.

**A/N Hi all! How is life? hopefully good, becasue then you will review! i love all of my reviewers, and pretty soon I will start mentioning them, and adding in any suggestions that you may have. thank you to the reviewers, and i just wanted to apoligise for the long wait for this chapter, i was going to update saturday, but everyone does it then, so mine would be pushed further back faster so i waited until today. Sorry.**

**And one more thing, if you review and tell me of a story to read, i will read and review for that story. ok? so send me all the storys you want and i will read them ASAP. **

**btw, i hope that you have read 'Dirty Little Secret' by now, or i will sick Omega 2 on you. So read it, or else! jk jk but really it is great so you should read it, and the author updates like, every other day, so basically more often then i do, so in between my chapters, you can read hers, sound good? **

**review and i will love you forever!**


	8. Glimpses ofThings

**Glimpses of… things**

_I was right, that bathing suit was perfect for her, she looked so beautiful in it. 'Man I love this girl' I thought. Wait where did that come from?! Sure I knew that I liked her, but love? I wasn't sure if I really loved her or not, I had nothing to compare this to. The only thing I knew about love was that it was supposed to last a lifetime. I had never seen anyone in love, living with the Whitecoats alls I learned was hate and sick ideas of fun. _

"_Hey," was all I could manage._

_"Hi," she replied, adding in a little wave._

Fangs pov

'Well that was embarrassing', I thought to myself. 'God. She probably thinks I'm an idiot. I just walk out and stare at her.'

'No, she thinks that you are very good looking, she was staring to, in case you didn't notice. It was very sweet.' Angel thought to me.

'Stay out of my mind, Angel. And thanks for telling me that" I chastised mentally.

She smiled at me. "Sorry" she said out loud. I nodded. That was not rude for me, it was normal, so she knew I wasn't mad.

That was another thing about Angel; she was very mature for an almost 7 year old. Most 6 years olds would have screamed 'cooties,' and took off. Angel was mature enough to realize that boys do not have cooties.

"Thanks Fang" she said, in response to my thoughts.

I was deciding whether or not to tell her off about reading my mind, but decided to just nod again.

Now I walked over to our bed, I mean Max's bed, the bed… whatever, it doesn't matter whose bed it is, I walked over to it. Max still needed to be carried, so I was the self appointed… Max carrier.

She stubbornly crossed her arms. "I can walk" she said.

"Tomorrow you can try walking. 'Till then," I opened my arms.

"And if I refuse" she said with a smirk on her face. That was switched, normally I was the one with the smirk, and she was the one annoyed with me for smirking.

"I'll have to drag you" I said getting frustrated.

"Stop flirting you two, we are ready to go" Iggy said with a smile in his voice.

"We are not flirting!" Max said angrily, and embarrassed. I don't think anyone but me noticed the embarrassment though.

"Just let him pick you up, so we can go" Gazzy said, eager to leave.

She uncrossed her arms slowly, hesitantly. I stepped another foot closer and reached my arms down to pick her up. I carried her bridal style down the _conveniently_ deserted lobby and hallway to the pool. When we got there I walked straight over to the hot tub area.

I was just going to set her down on the edge of the tub and let her get in by herself, but then I decided against it. I was not going to tell her how I feel, so I am going to have to show her. I don't know what exactly I feel about her, but I know that after the 'Omega 2 incident'' as Nudge and Angel called it, I needed to tell her what I felt.

So I went to the steps and slowly walked in, in case she said it was to hot. She didn't and I could feel her relaxing more and more as more of her was in the water. Once I was at the end of the steps I walked over to where the seat things were. I don't really know what exactly you would call them, maybe benches, I don't know, seat things, works for me.

So when I got there, I set her down as gently as I could, and sat down next to her. And I mean right next to her.

Max's pov

I was on the verge of hyperventilation. 'What is wrong with me?' I asked myself, I was about to have a heart attack and the cause was, I was sitting next to Fang. That's it.

I had a feeling that Fang knew what he was doing to me, because he had a hint of a real smile on his face.

I was really glad that nudge had disabled the security cameras because if she hadn't, I would have to worry about Iggy using this as blackmail sometime later. I could see it now 'the almighty Max getting carried into a room, only to sit on the man that carried her in.'

I wasn't really sitting on him, but I was close to it, he was so close to me, I was holding my breath for as long as possible.

"Max, ya need to breath" Fang said quietly.

"I am" I said exhaling slowly. He raised his eyebrows at me.

"Are you good by yourself?" he asked, looking towards the pool. I nodded, "you can go swimming, I will be fine" I said, once again frustrated at my weakness.

He got up glancing at me as he left. As soon as he got in the water, he walked up to Iggy, soon after Iggy came to sit by me.

I hadn't realized how good the water felt until Fang left and I could breath properly again.

"You know Max, breathing is good" Iggy teased.

"Ya, I know, that is why I was" I said, wondering how much Fang had told him.

"And Max…," Iggy said, sounding uncomfortable.

"Spit it out Ig" I said, wanting to know who did what, and why they were about to get in trouble. How did I know someone did something wrong, well, Iggy doesn't normally have trouble telling me something, unless he is ratting someone out.

"Max, has Fang told you anything?" he said avoiding something. Not what I was expecting. Defiantly not what I was expecting.

"Anything…" I trailed off, hoping he would finish his sentence.

"Nothing. How is your leg doing?" he asked. "I think you should be able to get around a little bit on your own. If we go for a long walk, then you will have to have Fang carry you, but otherwise, you can walk a little tomorrow."

"Thank God" I said. As soon as I said it, I felt the familiar prickle on the back of my neck.

"What Fang?" I said, trying to hold my annoyance back. I hated when he snuck up on me, he was so quite and me and Iggy could have been having a heart-felt conversation. Not like I usually had those types of talks, but you never know, and Fang just sneaks up on us.

"Mad?" he asked, with his head down, but looking at me through his long beautiful eyelashes. God he looked so cute like this! Bad Max, stop it!

"Just wish you would stop doing that" I said knowing exactly what he was going to say next.

"What, breathing?" told you I knew what he was going to say. We have had this conversation a lot in the past years.

"Not going to go there. What do you want" I said, secretly hoping that he would come and sit by me again.

"Nothing" and he walked away.

Fang's pov

'Max wants you to sit by her again' a sweet and innocent voice in my head said. Angel, ya, sweet and innocent my butt.

'She did! I promise she did' Angel thought again, after I thought about how she was probably trying to hook me and Max up again.

'When?' I thought to her, thinking that Max had probably thought this a long time ago.

'When you walked over there' she thought, happy that I believed her.

So I went over there again, and sat on her other side. Iggy gave me a knowing glance when I sat down. How he knew it was me, I have no idea.

Then he got up and walked away. Again, I would have to thank his for everything later on.

I looked at Max, ok fine, I stared at Max, and when she caught me I changed my expression to one that said "are you feeling ok?" I know, I am the oh-so-concerned Fang.

"I'm fine, stop staring at me" she said back, but I knew she really wasn't annoyed; she was just acting like she was.

I just smirked in response. This I knew would irritate her, but I tried to make it funny, not mocking, like I usually do.

She didn't look frustrated with me, that was a good sign. For once I wasn't trying to make her frustrated at me, ok that sounds really mean. I only make her angry, because she looks so cute when she pokes her bottom lip out and furrows her eyebrows. Most girls spend so much time trying to look perfect, and Max goes all natural and she still looks beautiful.

"Max, when are we going to get some food?" Gazzy said to Max.

"Whenever you guys are done" she replied, looking like she was very comfortable, but still wanted to get out of there for some reason.

"Ok, let's go now, I'm hungry. And I'm thirsty, I think swimming does that to you, makes you thirsty I mean. Do you guys get thirsty when you swim, I do. This is weird because you are in water, so you shouldn't be thirsty. Unless you are water repellant. Max, are we water proof? That would be weird to, cause like, water would just part as you walked through it. That'd be cool to" she finally finished.

"Sure Nudge. Alright, Iggy, I say we get some good home cooked meals, by none other then the one and only Iggy himself. What do you say to that?" Max questioned, hoping, it sounded like, that Iggy would be up for cooking.

"Depends, what do you expect me to cook with my perfect skills?" Iggy said in a tone that told us that he would cook anything that would make us happy and joking at the same time.

"Lets get back to the rooms and discuss this, ok?" Max said looking around us, and all the windows.

"Don't worry, I am watching for minds just like you told me to" Angel said taking in Max's expression. Or reading her mind, don't know which.

"I know sweetie, but I just don't like it here" Max said looking around uncomfortably.

"Let's go" I said grabbing Max's towel and walking over to her. If Max thought something was wrong, then I wanted out of here to.

She looked up at me "can I help you?" she said smiling slightly.

"Do you want to go or not" I said assuming that she was going to wait for me to ask to carry her. As much as I enjoy it, I will never ask to carry her, ever.

She sighed. Then she lifted up her arms so that I could pick her up like they pick up toddlers. I bent over and picked her up, and let me tell you she is heavier then the average toddler. I had to actually use my muscle to lift her like that, and that is saying something. I don't think even Iggy would be able to do that. I bet Omega 2 could.

No he cant, I will never let him touch her again. I will kill him personally the next time I see him. That is a promise. I had decided even before Max had ordered us not to touch him, that I would kill him myself. I never disobey Max unless it is something that I feel very strongly about. Such as this, and Max may not realize just how close she was to dying, but I do, and no one hurts my Max without finding out what the consequences are.

'Wait, 'my Max', where did that come from, she is not yours, no matter how much you wish she is, she isn't, so get over it' I yelled to myself, in my head.

"Fang, are you ok?" Max asked looking at me like I was crazy "oh, do you have a voice in your head that you talk to now to?" she asked joking with me.

"Yeah, it told me to drop you" I responded with a straight face. Well, I always have a straight face, but right now it was hard. Especially when a look of fear/anger/ and go ahead and try, crossed her face.

"You wouldn't dare. I could kick your butt" Max said.

I smiled down at her. Yes, a real smile, the kind that I reserve for the flock and the flock only, specifically Max.

She stopped breathing, wow that is a nice effect. Ok, still not breathing. Crap, still not breathing.

"Max?" I said urgently, "are you ok?" I questioned, really worried now.

"Huh?" she said back, taking a deep breath. Her eyes refocused on my face, and she smiled, "sorry."

"What happened?" I questioned her not really if I wanted to hear the answer.

She blushed. Wait, no, Max does not blush, not Maximum Ride. Why would she blush? Wait, could she possibly….no

No, could my smile have had that much effect on her? Wow, I like that; I think that is good that she can't even breathe when she sees it, then again, that is bad too, cause I don't know if that is good or bad that she cant breath when I smile. It could be good, because she likes it so much that she can't breathe, or it could be bad because I smile so ugly that she doesn't want to breathe.

'She just loves your smile so much that it takes her breath away' Angel said in my head.

I looked at her and raised my eyebrows. That couldn't be true could it? No, it couldn't.

Yes it could, another more proud side of me was thinking.

Give it up; just get over her, my less cocky side thought.

'No! Fang, don't get over her, she likes you too. She is thinking about you right now' Angel 'said' to me.

'Angel stay out of my mind' I thought firmly but not meanly. She looked at me and smiled a small apologetic smile. 'Sorry' she mouthed.

We were just about to the hotel room and I asked Max for the key.

She handed it to me and our hands touched. I was about to reach out and grab her hand and not ever let go when I caught myself. 'I need to be more careful' I mentally scolded myself.

I grabbed below her arm, but above her… waistline and then reached that same hand through under the back of her legs so I had a free hand to unlock the door with.

"Are you practicing?" Iggy whispered into my ear.

I turned to glare at him. I knew what he was talking about even if he was vague. He had joked with me about this before, our wedding night. I had told him a million times that me and Max were not going to get married; we were 14 for Gods sakes! We are not getting married, now or ever, she deserves better then me. Max deserves a guy that is smart, funny, and can provide for her. A guy with money, and as we all know, I don't have enough money to even buy a hotdog from a stand in New York.

"Iggy, can I talk to you" I said with absolutely no question in my tone; it was more of a demand then a question. I set Max down on the bed and turned to Iggy.

Iggys pov

Oh shit. I thought when Fang said that.

I grabbed the back of his shirt after a brief pause when I considered how long it would take Fang to kill me, and if Max would have time to call him off or not. I was going to refuse, but I knew that it would be better now if I just got it over with.

He took that as a yes, which it was. He started walking out into the hallway and I followed him, knowing that whatever he was going to say, he didn't want to do it in front of Max.

"Thanks, for everything. And stop making suggestive comments about what me and Max are doing. We are not" he said quietly, and very calm voice. Calm on the surface that is, underneath he was ticked, and I knew it.

Well that is not what I was expecting. I thought. I was ready to get yelled at, and possibly attacked if I wasn't careful of what I said. Then again, this is Fang that we are talking about, so the yelling is very unlikely. With the attacking, I am not sure what could have come from that, he was about to go after Sam that one time, but Angel _made_ him leave him alone. Other then that, I have nothing to compare this to, and I am defiantly not trying to steal Max from him. I don't like her that way and I never will. Fang knows that, thank god, but I still don't know what his reaction to all of my comments would be. This was not what I was expecting.

"What?" I said dumbfounded.

"Thanks, and if you say anything else to Max about what I told you, erasers wont be the only thing you have to watch out for" he said, starting off nicely, and turning menacing about two words in.

"Umm, if it really bothers you that much…" I said wondering why he hated it so much.

He turned and walked back inside, I heard his footsteps retreat.

Max's pov

"Fang" I said in a very steely and 'make most people pee there pants' type of voice.

He shook his head, not as affected by my 'do it now' voice as he used to be, I would have to fix that.

"Fang I am going to take a shower, tonight" I said with a normal voice, normal for talking to erasers that is.

"No" he said simply.

"There is no way I am staying in a hotel and not showering. I can sit" I added hoping that that would convince him.

He glanced at me making sure that I wasn't lying, we can usually tell with each other.

"Ask Iggy" he said looking at the TV again.

"No, I am the leader, I make the choices" I said coldly again. I think that that may have gotten him; unless he wants a fight on his hands… then he should keep going where he is going with this. He got up and walked away.

Walked away! From me! I sat there in a stunned silence. The only time he had ever walked away I ended up in Germany in a prison like thing, and he stayed in America. That was bad, so I hoped that was not about to happen again.

Then he came back with a towel and washcloth. Oh. Now I feel stupid, I got all worked up about him going to get a towel to shower. Then he handed it to me.

Ok that is twice I have been wrong today, and I don't like being wrong. Well in this case it isn't so bad, cause I get my way, but most of the time I want to be right.

He reached his arms out, and I assumed he was gonna carry me there.

"I'm walking, you can help if you feel you must, but I'm walking" I said wondering how far I could push my luck.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Can you?" he asked. I knew he didn't want an automatic 'yes' that I wanted to give. He wanted to know if I did would I get hurt.

"Yes" I said after a minute. I slid my legs off of the side of Fangs bed and sat on the edge, waiting for him to come closer so that he could help me. I knew that there was no way I could do this without help so I wasn't even going to try.

He put the towel under his arm and bent over and put his other arm around my waist. 'This feels so right' I thought. 'No it is not right! Fang is your brother!' I yelled to myself mentally.

Then he lifted up slowly taking most of my weight with him. I put both of my feet on the ground and took a small step with my bad leg, hoping that I could do this.

I put my weight on my leg (the weight that Fang let me have, that is). It felt fine, other then the stabbing pain that I had been feeling since the fight.

He kept his eyes intently on my face, watching for signs of pain, I think. I nodded telling him that I was fine. Then I took another step.

Now I was in the bathroom and Fang turned to leave closing the door behind him, setting the towel down on the vanity.

I turned on the hot water and started so undress. When I stepped into the water, it felt so good. 'When was that last time I took a shower?' I silently wondered to myself 'not just a quick wash-up in a river.'

I took a fifteen minute shower then stepped out, knowing that I had been in here for too long as it is, and that Fang probably wants to shower to.

I started to dry off when I heard a knock on the door.

"Max, your clothes" fang said, quietly. I looked around and realized for the first time that I did not bring any clothes in with me. I wrapped the towel around me and said,

"Can you hand them to me?"

The door opened slowly about a foot open, and a tough but perfect hand reached in with my clothes.

"Thanks" I said trying to force down the embarrassment that was slowly creeping up on me. 'Fang has your bras and underwear before Max' I said to myself, and for all of you who are like what! I mean back at the school, when I had got beaten to crap, or experimented on to the point where my senses were almost gone, and the Whitecoats dragged me back into my cage, often my clothes were torn and ripped so you could see way to much. That was something that we had to get used to, and even as awkward as it was, we never ever mention it and just try to forget what we saw. Thankfully that hasn't happened since before Jeb helped us escape, or that would be even more awkward.

I set my clothes down where my towel was and started to get dressed, until I saw the underwear that he had brought. They were the ones from Victoria's Secret that Nudge had bought me, and said that they were so in style that I had to get them. I was going to refuse but I just got them to shut her up, and they were on clearance. They were black and were very… little with a lacy waistband.

'Oh my gosh. What did Fang think when he saw these?' I wondered to myself.

Fang's pov

After I got done with Iggy, I went back inside. Max wanted to take a shower, but I wasn't sure if she could. Well to be completely truthful, I knew she could, just would she hurt herself trying?

I gave up and let her and after about 10 minutes I realized that she didn't bring any clothes with her. I scanned my memory to check and I remember walking with her there, but she had nothing in her hands. That was a memory I will never forget, the feel or her arm around me, I mean. Back on track, she didn't have anything in her hands so… I would have to bring them to her.

I walked over to her bag and was debating on whether or not to just bring the whole bag. Something told me to (not Angel) and something else told me to get the clothes out for her. I decided to get them out for her, against my better judgment I am sure.

I grabbed the shorts she had first, and I made sure not to grab the shortest pair, knowing that they would look amazing on her, but that would tick her off. Then I grabbed the shirt. Now came the worst part, the… undergarments. I just picked up a random… bra… and some random underwear. As soon as I picked up the underwear I knew that they were not random.

They were a deep black, with some lace at the top and just very small in general. 'Wow. She wears these?' I thought to myself.

After a minute I realized that I was holding up Max's underwear and staring at them, and that if someone walked in right now they would think I was a perv. Then Iggy's comments would just get worse, so I wrapped the… things… up in her shirt and knocked on the door.

"Max, your clothes" I said, no knowing how the 'pass off' of the clothes was going to work.

"Can you hand them to me?" that was not what I wanted to hear. Ger. I really didn't want to open this door right now. I wont do it.

I turned the handle and gave her the clothes. The door opened more then I meant for it to, and it ended up opening about a foot. Behind the door was Max, leaning on the wall, holding up her weight with her good foot. Wrapped in only a towel. Dripping wet. I just stood there for a minutes and she took the clothes out of my hand.

That snapped me out of my trance. I backed out slowly, closing the door after I left.

"This is too much" I said quietly to myself.

"What is too much?" a voice from the corner of the room said. I whirled around and saw Iggy in the corner of the room.

"How'd you get in?" I asked, still quiet.

"I walked in. You were in the bathroom… with Max in the shower unless you left the water on and you didn't. Then you walked out, and didn't even notice me. What were you doing?" he asked waggling his eyebrows.

"Gave Max her clothes" I stated flatly, hoping he wasn't going to go back to making the comments that are way off base, unfortunately. If only Max liked me like that…

"That's it" I said, thinking he was going to drop it.

"Back to the question, what is to much?" Iggy asked.

"Nothing."

"Then why is that too much?" he said, now with curiosity rather then condemnation and suggestion.

I gave him the look that said 'tell anyone, and I will gladly beat you to death.' Then I said "she was in a towel."

He sucked in a breath. "Oh Fangy is gonna get lucky at this rate!"

"She forgot her clean clothes in here, so I brought them to her, and she was in a towel, that's it" I growled out, really having to try hard not to lunge at him.

"And that's it?" he said back to his regular tone again. I nodded. "No it isn't, that was an awful big smile" he said.

I was not smiling! I do not smile, unless it is for Max. But then again, this was because of Max, and that is sorta the same thing right?

"What else happened that your not telling me about?" he said with a sly smile on his face.

"When I was grabbing her clothes, I saw some… underwear" I said, knowing that if I didn't tell him, then he was just going to get a worse idea.

"What did they look like? Eww! Never mind, that is gross, don't describe her underwear to me." Iggy said looking disgusted at the thought of 'seeing' Max's underwear. I almost smiled, on the inside, at how disgusted he was, that was good, no one, and I mean on one, will ever see Max's underwear or I will personally hunt them down and tear them to shreds.

Just then Max walked out of the bathroom.

"Oh hey Iggy" she said with a smile.

"Dinners done" he said "cheesy potatoes and corn."

"K be there in a minute" she said.

**A/N Hey guys. I will be updating on Thursdays from now on, if I get enough reviews. No, I am not going to tell you how many that is, just review. I am sorry that the wait will be longer, but I have almost run out of chapters in storage, and as you can see, my chapters are really long. They take me about a week to write, and then a few more days to perfect. So I am going to get a few more in storage. Keep reviewing, and I may just get so happy that I update sooner...**

**And dont forget to check out 'Dirty little secret' by MFINGA. it is a great story and i love it. you would to, so read it. thank you. **

**thank you to **maximumchrisyt, MFINGA, Skittle.Rocker, FAXloverTOtheMAX, philokiller, Lily-Ride-Cullen, M333gan, Shayne Rider, **and **Miz636

**for reviewing more then 3 times. You really really help me write my chapters.**

**A super extra special thanks to **Skittle.Rocker **for giving me the ultimate review. Her reviews are the best! she gives me constructive critizem and she also praises me for doing the best job i can. Thank you to them a super huge lot. **


	9. Finally

Chapter 9

Finally

Max's pov

I was stuffed from dinner, ok not stuffed, but full.

Fang was in the shower, and I went and put the kids to bed, Angel and Nudge were already asleep so obviously Total was too, and Iggy didn't need to be tucked in anymore, but I did still say goodnight. Then I tucked in the Gasman.

'Wow that went fairly quick tonight' I thought as I went back to go to sleep. I was going to sleep on the couch, but I didn't want to scrunch up my legs, or hurt them so I couldn't walk tomorrow. So I went to lie on the bed to sleep.

Fang's pov

I stepped out of the shower and got dressed. As I was brushing my teeth I was thinking about Max. I wonder what she is doing. 'I bet she is trying to fall asleep on the couch' I thought as I rinsed out my mouth.

'Ha, she has no idea, but I never planed on letting her sleep on the couch, I am going to move her. She is not sleeping on the couch, I won't let her, I will.'

I walked out of the bathroom and shut off the light. It was total darkness. Now, we bird kids have better night vision then regular humans, but it still isn't perfect. I couldn't see anything, so I walked in blindness over to where I knew the couch was. I stubbed my toe and hit my shin on the way, but it was no big deal.

I got to the couch and reached down slowly, not knowing where exactly she was, and not knowing how far down the couch was. My fingertips lightly touched something, Max I think, and I slid my hands, barely touching her to where I couldn't feel anything anymore.

'This is way too wide to be Max' I thought to myself. With a sudden realization, I understood that it was the couch, and that she was not on it. 'Oh, she is tucking in the kids' I thought. 'That is why it was so dark when I walked out'.

I walked over to the bed and was going to wait for Max to get back, with the lights off so that when she laid on the couch, I could do my whole, appear out of thin air, thing that she hates so much.

I was shuffling my feet to avoid tripping and making noise. I got to the bed and lifted up my leg to climb on to the bed. I felt the bed under my leg and leaned forward, putting my body weight on it. Then it moved, and I started falling. I reached out, acting on instinct, and grabbed the blanket to keep myself from falling. The blanket fell to the floor with me, and came crashing down with me.

There is more then a blanket here, I thought when it landed on me, heavily. That would be when I realized that Max had fallen to. I panicked, grabbing the blankets and throwing them off to the side, hoping that Max was ok. I got to Max and could see the faint outline of her face looking at me with wide eyes. She kept her eyes on me as she reached up and turned on the bedside lamp.

To do this, her arm reached right over me and she had to scoot over closer to me, or she wouldn't have been able to reach it. When she flicked it on, her eyes were still wide, and she now had a curious expression on her face.

"Are ya ok" she said groggily.

I nodded. "You" I said, concern laced through my voice. She smiled and relaxed her arm which was just now going back to her side from turning on the lamp. She was really tired, I could see it in her eyes, and her arm fell short of her side, and ended up lying across my chest. She closed her eyes and let her whole body relax. I don't know why I did it, maybe because she looked so vulnerable, or maybe because she was just so dang cute.

I put my arm around her waist. Her eyes snapped open and stared deep into my eyes. I was waiting for her to pull back, but she didn't. She did the last thing that I expected.

She kissed me. I was too shocked that I didn't respond at first, and she started to pull back. As soon as I started kissing back, she smiled. Then froze. She pulled back.

"Sorry Fang, I don't" I was just now noticing our position, she was laying on top of me and my hands were wound gently through her hair. I removed my hands, and put them around the back of her neck, pulling her closer, into a hug.

Yes, a hug, from me Fang. What? I was happy, and she deserved it. That shut her up, real quick.

She tensed, and I waited for her to push me away, and run, like she had before. Even if she started it, I still didn't know what was going to happen. Then she relaxed again. And rolled sideways off of me, but kept her hand around my chest. Then she laid her in between my shoulder and my chest.

After a minute I put my hand under her neck to give her more support, and make both of us more comfortable. She sighed, but not like a frustrated sigh, more like 'I just found a buffet of chocolate and other heavenly foods, that doesn't ever run out' kind of sigh.

"Good night Fang" she said looking up at me.

"Yes it is" I said back to her in a quiet whisper, and then, without paying attention to the fact that we were laying on the floor, we fell asleep.

Max's pov

I was flying, when I felt a tug on my wing, and fell onto the floor, landing on something extremely hard, but softer then the ground.

Then I woke up lying right next to- and by that I mean half way on top of- Fang. We were wrapped in blankets, and I had no idea how I got here. Then I thought back to my dream, and realized that Fang probably yanked the blankets off of the bed, and I came with them.

Jerk.

I reached over to the lamp, over Fangs chest (a fact that I was hyper-aware of) and turned it on while asking "Are you ok?" Well that is what it was supposed to be anyway, but it came out as "Are ya k?"

He nodded, then asked quickly "you?" I could tell by the concern in his voice that he didn't pull me down here on purpose, it was an accident.

I nodded and tried to pull my arm back. I was too tired and it just fell across Fangs chest. I closed my eyes relaxing, knowing that if Fang didn't want my arm there, then he would move it himself.

Then I felt am arm wrap around my waist. I snapped my eyes open, and saw Fang looking at me. His eyes told me what he was feeling, even if he tried to stop them from. They said that he couldn't stand to be rejected one more time, it may just kill him. I wanted him to kiss me, but I wasn't sure what I would do if he did. It didn't look like he was going to, so I did what I had to do. And I mean that my body made me do it, I had no control.

I kissed him. And by kiss I don't mean little peck, or full out make out session. It was somewhere in the middle. He just sat… laid there, frozen. That was when I realized what I had done. I started to pull back and felt hands wrap through my hair and he began to kiss back, tentivaly. Almost like he was waiting for me to run away again. I told myself that I was not going to do that, for three reasons, 1.) I was to tired 2.) I started it and 3.) I enjoyed it way to much.

But I did pull back, not knowing if he wanted to do this or not.

"Sorry Fang, I don't" then he hugged me. Yes, you heard me right, Fang hugged me. That was when I noticed how I was laying. I was lying on top of him and he was lying under me. He just kept on hugging me until I hugged back.

That told me that he did not regret what had happened at all. Wait what had happened? I fell off of the bed, then I kissed him and he kissed me, then he hugged me, while I was lying on top of him. What a night.

I laid my head on his chest, sighing contently.

He put his arm under my neck and I must admit that I was comfortable. I don't know how I was though, my head was lying on a very hard surface, almost like tile, (yes he is that muscular) I was on the ground, and it was awfully cold out. But I was in bird kid heaven. I don't know what the real heaven is like because I obviously am not normal, nor have I died, thank God. So I am going to assume that the bird kid heaven is somewhat like this, because this was the happiest I had been since I can remember. I was happier now then when we escaped from the school, which is saying something.

"Good night Fang" I said, hoping that he wasn't going to be like 'what are you doing, get away from me! Freak!' in a more compressed way, of course. I have never understood how he does that, and it amazes me how he can say so little, but so much at the same time, with hardly now words.

"Yes it is." Like that! He said three words, but they meant so much, and they told me so much about this!

Yes it was. He had just told me in those three simple words that he was not ashamed that me, the leader, Maximum Ride, had just kissed him only after falling on him.

I think that this was even better then when he had admitted that he needed me.

That was a first; he had never ever said that he needed anyone. I had told him shortly after that I needed him to. Another first.

With that I fell asleep.

Fang's pov

I jackknifed into the sitting position not knowing what was going on. Next to me, someone moaned a little, and reached up for the collar of my shirt. Max.

'What is she doing here?' I thought with a shock going through me. My next thought was, 'dang I woke up' I had been having a dream where Max fell on me, and then she kissed me, and we slept on the floor. Ha! I must have fallen down here, and that is where I got that from! I laughed silently to myself. 'But that doesn't explain why Max is lying next to me' I stated to myself. 'Ahh, I am still dreaming' I thought next. Good, for once I was having a good dream. I guess I might as well make the most out of it.

So I slowly got up, not wanting to wake up my sleeping beauty, and picked her up bridal style. I laid her gently on the bed, and kissed her forehead, debating on whether or not to lay on the bed with her or just go to the couch. I figured that this was all a dream, so what the hell, I might as well sleep with her. Not the perverted kind, you freak, the kind where I lay next to her, and fall asleep.

So I did just that.

SEVEN HOURS LATER

Fang's pov

"Oh my god."

"What? What is going on?"

"Fang and Max are…"

"Are what?"

"Are in the same bed… together… sleeping"

My eyes snapped open. I don't think that I was really awake, but hearing that Max and I were in the same bed sure as hell woke me up. That was when I noticed that my arm was around someone's waist, and I had one leg under mine, and one on top of it. And that I was pressed up against a back. A back with wings. The only back that I could think of was Maxes.

I looked around and noticed that not only were my legs tangled with someone else perfect legs, but my arm was under her head, and my other arm was around her waist. By her, I mean Max.

"What?!" said a very cold voice. I looked over to who woke me up and saw Gazzy and Iggy standing there, Iggy looking like he was going to kill me. 'That's what woke me up' I thought to myself.

I looked around confused. Normally I wake up better then this, but now, I was way out of it. Max was beginning to stir and her hands began to move down to her feet, and feel blindly around. For a blanket I think, but I'm not sure.

Then I felt hands pulling on the collar of my shirt, I was about to throw a punch at whoever was pulling me, but I saw it was Iggy. Now I was even more confused.

"I need to talk with you" he growled out angrily.

"Igs?" I said, not knowing whether or not it was really him, and not wanting to attack in case it was, but not wanting to not, in case it wasn't.

Max's pov

I was dreaming of fluffy bunnies prancing in a beautiful meadow when I heard it. No, I'm lying. I was dreaming that I kissed Fang, and then we fell asleep together when I heard it.

People whispering. I recognized the voices though so I didn't freak out. It was the Gasman and Iggy; I couldn't make out what they were saying. I was in that dreamlike state where you can hear what is going on, but if you respond you will wake up.

Then I realized how cold I was and I started reaching for the blanket. I felt arms around my waist then, and a leg pressed up against mine. I did not know what was going on, and I was starting to get worried. I was fighting to open my eyelids when I felt someone get off of the bed, and the legs and arm that were wrapped around me disappear. 'They took my pillow' I thought.

"_They were your pillow" _Jeb said to me.

That was when I sat up, fully gaining consciousness. The sight I saw before me scarred the hellotta me. Fang was getting dragged across the room by Iggy. Or Iggys clone, I don't know which.

I jumped up, only to trip over a pile of blankets that were piled at the bottom of the bed.

Gazzy laughed and said "calm down Max, Iggy said that he wants to talk to Fang" he said glancing at the door after Fang and Iggy.

A minute or two later Fang came walking back in looking at his feet. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, and then flicked his eyes to the door.

Fang's pov

I walked out into the hall with Iggy, my whole body tensed, ready to attack 'Iggy' if he tried anything. For all I know, Max is still sleeping, and he will not hurt her.

"What the hell happened?" 'Iggy demanded. I didn't say anything, but nodded my head, thinking that if they made an Iggy clone, they wouldn't have made him blind, so he would be able to see me. I was waiting for him to respond to that to make my decision so to whether this was the real Iggy or not.

"Darn it Fang! She is like my sister, and I walk in there this morning, and you are _sleeping in the same bed_ as her! What did you do!" he yelled quietly, not wanting to wake everyone, but wanting to get his point across.

That convinced me that this was really him, so I decided to tell him what I knew.

"I'm not sure" I said barley above a whisper and I knew that no one but Iggy would have been able to hear that, even with our enhanced hearing. Iggy had the best and I doubted if he could hear it.

"You. Don't. Know. How. You. Ended. Up. In. A. Bed. With. My. Sister?" he said thought gritted teeth. Then I knew what he meant.

_"That _defiantly didn't happen" I said only slightly louder. He said nothing so I continued. "She kissed me last night, and then we fell asleep together."

"Promise?" he said, making me promise that was all that happened.

"Promise."

"She was kissing you, on a bed, and you fell asleep? What is wrong with you, you are a guy aren't you?" he said, back to his old self again.

But now he had succeeded in making me re-think last night's actions. Was that what Max wanted? Did she kiss me on accident, and then was too tired to run away? Was she now regretting what happened? I walked back inside the hotel room with Iggy at my side.

I caught her eye and flicked my eyes to the door that Iggy and I had just walked through, signaling to her that I wanted to talk to her.

She got up from the bed and said that she was going to check on Nudge and Angel. Iggy distracted Gazzy the best he could, but Gazzy just stood there looking confused and slightly disgusted at the same time.

I inconspicuously followed her outside.

"Fang, what happened?" she said securitizing me.

I shook my head, embarrassed, not wanting to say anything. She glared at me, and even though it had no effect I still knew that she meant business.

"He came in saw me and you on the bed and assumed… so he was planning on killing me" I said quick and quiet, hoping she would not get what Iggy assumed.

Her face turned bright red, so she knew what I meant.

"Sorry" she said, apologizing for not only what Iggy said, but also for what happened last night, I could hear both in her voice.

"Why?" I whispered looking deep in her eyes, trying to communicate that I was not in the least bit sorry.

She nodded. "We will talk later. They gotta eat, and we need to get out of here" she said.

She turned and walked back inside. I was happy to see that she was walking almost normally, which meant that she was feeling almost ok. Good, I don't like it when she is in pain; it hurts me when she even gets a tiny scratch, which is bad to be so sensitive when you're in this 'business.'

So we ate breakfast, and Gazzy kept shooting us weird looks, almost like we had left imprints of each other when Max and I were pressed up against each other. Nudge and Angel would giggle every time they looked at us, and they had huge smiles on there face, and they just didn't go away. I would say that it was annoying, but after last night, it will take a lot to annoy me.

Iggy came up to Max after we got done putting all the dishes back downstairs where the complementary breakfast was. "Hey Max can you walk ok?" he asked expecting an honest response.

"Ya" she said, to my surprise, I couldn't detect a lie in her answer.

"Then you can fly, I think, it may hurt, but it will no matter what, because you haven't stretched your wings in a while.

"Thanks" she said, obviously overjoyed that she could fly again. I on the other hand, was not. That meant that I couldn't carry her now, I loved carrying her when we were flying. She was so happy and carefree.

We walked down to the desk and thank God that same desk clerk wasn't working, or she may have said something to Max about being my girlfriend, and I would have to kill myself, if the embarrassment didn't do the job first. Ok fine, I wouldn't have gone that far, but I would have died of embarrassment.

The only problem with this new guy was just that, he was a guy. And unlike Iggy, he wasn't blind, so he was shamelessly checking out Max.

"Ewe. Lets get out of here. That guy is thinking gross things" Angel said making a gross face and squeezing her eyes shut. Suddenly I felt a presence in my brain.

'Angel' I warned.

'Sorry, I am going to stay here, I don't want to hear his thoughts, they are very mean and rude and gross at the same time' she thought back. I couldn't tell her to leave, I did not want her to hear whatever he was thinking about Max, I could only imagine, and for Angel's sake, I wouldn't.

'Thanks' she thought to me. Oops she wasn't supposed to hear that, I guess it is good that I didn't think that.

We walked outside of the lobby and started walking to find a place where we could take off. I walked up to Max's side and began walking next to her.

We got to the edge of town and looked around. No one was outside, it was to cold, at 70 degrees, they thought it was cold, and if they knew about us, they would call us the freaks.

Max started to roll her shoulder, opening her wings, and I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Max, I'm gonna carry you" I said, not knowing what I was doing, just that I wanted to hold her.

"I can fly" she said, stating that she did not need help anymore. "I am ready to fly."

"I know. I am not ready to let you. I want to carry you" I said to her, hoping against hope that she wouldn't reject me, I don't know if I could take it.

Her eyes widened and then she started walking toward me. I began to have a fear of getting slapped by Max, not necessarily the pain, but more of the emotion behind it. She might hit me, but I would just feel bad that she had to hit me, not that it hurt. Her arms opened slightly, and I realized that she was not going to hit me.

She was going to let me carry her. I smiled slightly at her and picked her up. Iggy was now looking in our direction with his head tilted to one side.

"Guys, what are you doing?" he said slowly, in a tone that suggested that he didn't want to know the answer.

"I don't know if I can fly yet" Max said quickly, not wanting to tell Iggy the truth, I assume.

"Why is your heart beating so fast? Both of yours is." He said with a smile in his tone.

Max's pov

Neither of us responded. I just looked up at Fang. His eyes were smiling. And yes, that does make sense, I have known Fang my whole life, and I can read any emotion that passes through his eyes.

I smiled one of those tiny, awkward smiles, and then pulled my head back from Fang. We were pretending that I had not kissed him last night, and I was starting to notice a pattern. We were acting like something did not happen, if it would potentially embarrass us. Hum, interesting.

But of course, he did say that we would talk later, and I, for once, wanted to.

Fang took off from the ground, and I was once again amazed at how strong he was. I mean I consider myself strong, not to sound stuck up or anything, but even I could not take off with someone almost my weight with nothing more then a small running start. 'Man, I love how strong he is, he is so… just perfect' I thought to myself.

'Can I tell him that?' a sweet and youthful voice asked me in my head.

'NOOO' I thought franticly before she could say anything.

'Why?' Angel asked with _curiosity_, ya right! She just wanted me to say why.

I didn't respond. So instead I resorted to just looking at Fang inconspicuously out of the corner of my eye. Yep, but the only problem is that a certain 6 year old mind reader whose name I wont mention just happened to let slip to the subject in… scrutiny, that I was staring.

He looked down and smirked at me. "What are ya starin at?" he said in his perfectly manly but not forced, but still perfect and amazing voice. Wow, that sounded like Nudge there for a minute. Sorry.

"There is something on your face right there" I said pointing to his right cheek. There really wasn't, I just wanted to see his reaction. Normally this would be nothing new, we always had stuff on our faces, but we had just showered, so we were expected to be clean.

His left arm flinched. His left arm was the one that was under my legs, right at the top of my thighs. When it flinched, it came dangerously close to my butt. I

didn't say anything, but I can tell you this, it is a very good thing that he moved it lighting fast, or he may not have had a left hand, scratch that, a left arm.

So he moved it, and went to wipe the thing that was on his face (ha ha jokes on him). That is, till he licked his hand and wiped it on my face. My eyes widened as I realized what he had done. Then when I was about to do the same thing back (I will not back down and take it!) Nudge asked why I was going to lick Fang. I was soo not going to lick Fang! I was going to lick my hand, and wipe it on Fang. I am not concerned about hygiene, being on the run, soap is a very limited resource, but that does not mean that I don't think that licking him is gross, cause it is.

"We are not licking each other!" I shouted to Nudge.

"What?!" Iggy said looking over at a spot a few inches above Fangs head.

"Nothing" I said loud enough for Iggy to hear, then "truce" to Fang. Sure, he calls a truce before I get a chance to get him back. I wiped my spit covered hand on his face, then replied,

"Truce." He looked evilly at me for a second, and then his eyes softened.

"I was going to get you, but you have no where to go, so I will let this wait until you can get a _slight_ chance to run" he said, with a slight smile on his face.

The rest of the flight was fairly peaceful, other then the constant string of "I'm hungry's" that were coming from Nudge. Fang and I didn't talk much, but it wasn't a super awkward silence either. It was more of a relaxing, and give you time to think, silence.

"Oh look! Max, there's a mall! We need to go shopping, soon. I need to clothes, we all do, these are so torn and dirty, and we need to go. Can we go please, please please go! We have to!" Nudge said.

I was going to shout out a really quick 'no' before she could get her hopes up, but then I remembered Fang's shorts. It had been nearly a week since I had borrowed them from him, and now they were so torn, and bloodied that I wasn't sure that he would even want them back… they were pretty comfy, and it was hard to find shorts that weren't tight, or short. That seems to be all girls wear these days, and when your fighting, and you can't do a high kick because your shorts are too tight, then you are screwed.

Rather then the 'no' I wanted to yell out, I said yes. There were so many happy squeals from the girls, and Gazzy even looked pretty happy. Iggy hated shopping about as much as I did, because he always had to hold on to the back of someone's shirt, or run into something every five seconds.

We landed about 1/2 of a mile from the parking lot (so like a mile from the actual store) and waited for a few minutes to see if someone came running into the woods yelling about how they saw people falling or flying. After Angel gave us the all clear (I told her to scan people's minds that got too close to the woods in case they saw something) then we walked out casually. I will tell you now, if you happen to grow wings, and be able to fly, don't try landing and then pretending like nothing happened, it takes serious acting skills.

'Oh great, here goes the hell trip' I thought to myself.

Fang's pov

I always acted like I didn't like shopping, but in reality, I do. But only because I get an excuse to look at Max without anyone saying anything to me. And, man oh man, when Nudge and Angel make Max try on skirts, I could just go buy them an ice cream. No I really couldn't, because I have no money, but if I had money then I would.

'Here it goes' I thought with a mental grin.

**A/N Are you happy now? i hope so, becasue this was VERY hard to write. are they still in character? i think so, but do you? review and tell me. dont forget to reveiw or i will be upset. the response for my last chappie wasnt very good, so i hope this will be better. thanks. **

**did you hear that the max ride movie is going to be animated?! isnt that rediculus?! i am so mad**

**have you looked at 'dirty little secret' yet? good, i hope so cuz if not you are missing out. big time. **

**i love you if your name is **maximumchrisyt, MFINGA, Skittle.Rocker, FAXloverTOtheMAX, philokiller, Lily-Ride-Cullen, M333gan, Shayne Rider,Miz636, or kat-fly-fan. you have all reviewed more then 3 times. thanks. and if i missed you, review or PMand i will fix it immideatly. thanks!


	10. Grr, Shopping

Grr, Shopping

Grr, Shopping

Max's pov

"No way Max. Those are just like the ones you are wearing, but cleaner, and newer. No, you have to get something new, and just, good. Let me pick it out please. Pretty please? Kay, its settled, I am picking out Max's clothes!" Nudge rambled.

"No!" I said loudly, but not loud enough that it would attract attention.

Nudge was trying to get me to buy some shorts and a baby doll top. It was ok looking and all, but if someone was flying being me they would get a full view of my… chest. So, it was a defiant no. I on the other hand wanted to get some very loose jeans, and a huge hoodie, that I was going to cut the hood off of so that I couldn't get strangled with it. See, when you are like me, you have to think of stuff like that.

I was refusing to get the clothes she wanted when the boys came back. I sent them to the guys section to pick out clothes, but I still had to ok them. So ya, but, but they were back for me to ok there clothes. I wasn't really worried abut Fang or Gazzy's, but sometimes, Ig is a perv. So I just had to check to be sure. His were fine to.

Nudge on the other hand, well, hers weren't fine, to put it lightly. She wanted a jean skirt, that was to short, but not so short that her butt would be falling out, but still to short and a pink top. I hate pink, but I didn't want to be prejudices. So I told her to try it on. It wasn't to bad, so I told her that she could have the shirt, but the skirt would have to be made into jeans.

She just looked at me open mouthed. Her face was priceless, she was speechless she was so mad.

"Nudge, can you imagine if we got attacked, and you had to kick an eraser with that on? What would he see?" I said trying to make me not seem like the bad guy.

"Ooooohhhhhhhh ya! We need new underwear! Lets go, right now, come on Max, we really need them. I need a bet you need a new bra, and I need one too. Come on, and underwear. Lets go to Victoria's Secret. They have both, and sometimes, they have really good sales. If they don't, then we can go somewhere else, Okay?" she said really excited, forgetting about the skirt and picking up some jeans that she had already tried on, and that fit.

I was completely mortified. Iggy looked excited, and whispered something to Fang, who raised his eyebrows and shook his head while saying something. Then Iggy looked like he was going to walk away, so Fang rolled his eyes, and then said yes.

When Fang looked over at me, I felt my face starting to heat up. Crap! Here goes that blush.

_"Max, you should hurry up and get out of there" _Jeb said to me.

"Why?" I thought back to him.

_"We wouldn't want anyone to recognize you now would we?" _Jeb said, redirecting the question back to me.

"Guys, let pay and get out of here" I said quickly. We walked in a quick but casual manner up to the register, and dumped our stuff on the counter.

The guy behind the counter looked up tiredly. When he saw me, his expression changed to a different one. A much creepier one. Great another one of these days. This is what showering does for me, makes guys say dirty things to me, and tick Fang off.

"Hey there" he said waggling his eyebrows. I just nodded, quite rudely if you ask me, but I wanted him to get the point.

"What's your name?" he said still with a sick smile on his face.

"What does it matter to you?" snarled out. What, old habits die hard!

"I'm Herman" he said in what was supposed to be a seductive tone, I am guessing, because of the way his eyes raked my body, and he smiled a very disgusting smile. "Now would you like to tell me your name, or would you like to persuade it out of you?"

Fang snarled. "I'm taken, and I defiantly don't work like that" just then Fang got a very evil smile on his face.

"But I do" he purred out. I nearly passed out right then and there. Fang did not just say that! Ha, now he was just messing with the guy.

"Excuse me?" _Herman_ said.

"I said that you can persuade me to anytime you want" now I almost busted out laughing. This was so out of character for Fang, and I knew that he was just doing it to mess with the guy. I personally found it hilarious, but _Herman_ was mortified.

He glanced at me. "Umm, do you want me to ring that up??" he said, still absolutely disgusted. **(A/N I have nothing against homosexuals, but I just know a guy named Herman, and I hate him, so this is my way of messing with him. And you just wait; I am not done messing with him yet. I just figured that it would be funny to make Fang hit on a guy, to keep him away from Max. I could so picture his face when I wrote this, and I was nearly hyperventilating. Lol).**

Six hoodies later and 3 pairs of blues jeans, 1 pair of black jeans (guess who's) and two pairs of cargo pants later, I pulled out my Max Ride card, and handed it to him.

He rang it up, and then he handed it back to me, and said "I took off 30 dollars. Do you know a way you can make it up to me?" he said, returning to his 'seductive' tone. I gagged.

Iggy just about caught the place on fire he was so red with anger. "You realize that her brother is right here, and he could kick your ass with very little effort on his part? That would be me" he ground out, pointing to his chest, flexing all his muscles, and glaring. Personally, even I would rethink what I was about to say, but not this guy.

"Dude, what's with your eyes?" he asked, mocking, and true curiosity evident in his tone.

"The sad thing is, I am blind, and I could still kick your ass, so you had better give me the clothes right not" he said, holding his hand out and reaching for the bags.

"Your blind and you think you could take me?" Herman sneered.

"No. I am blind and I know I could take you, so hand me the dang bags" he said, really getting angry. I was ready to hurt this guy for insulting Iggy, but I was busy trying to restrain Fang.

I was not doing so well. He was slowly inching forward and there was nothing I could do to stop him. "Fang, do you really want to draw attention to us, we need to leave, the voice told us to go" I added quietly, not wanting to scare the flock.

I reached out and grabbed the bags from his hand. I tried anyhow, but he grabbed my hand, and then tried to pull me towards him. I was not having that, so I pulled the other way, and he started to come over the counter. As soon as he let go of my hand, I punched him. Not as hard as I could, for fear of sending his nose through his skull and causing attention to be drawn to me. He still clutched his nose, and cried out in agony. Wossy.

That was our cue to get the heck out of there. So we did.

We sprinted up the escalators, and out the door. "Oh man Max; we forgot the bras and underwear! We will have to come back tomorrow. That sounds good to me what about you Angel, ya ok, and Max? Ok, bye bye mall, I will see you tomorrow." Guess who? If you guessed Nudge, then tonight you get to sleep in a warm bed. Lucky you.

'_So do you Max. You need to stay in a hotel again, just so you can heal completely. Get three rooms again. It is less noticeable" _the voice said, still in an inconvenient time. But with helpful information, none the less.

'Where should we go?' I asked it.

'_You are the leader, not me'_ was my reply. I was going to throw out a snotty and sarcastic remark, but I held it in, because recently the voice had been being pretty helpful.

"Hey guys, hotel again tonight!" I said, happy that I could take another shower.

I heard a chorus of yahoo's and a few other noises of contentment on my decision. Good I liked it when I could make them happy.

"We gonna tell Iggy tonight?" Fang asked smoothly.

"Tell him what?" I asked, hoping to God that he wasn't talking about our kiss already. It wasn't time to talk yet, was it?

"The plan" he said in response. Now we were outside again, and I was really starting to have a hard time keeping up with the flock. Fang noticed, obviously he would notice first, because he watched me… constantly. But not it the stalker kind of way, just to make sure I was ok.

He slowed down and got right behind me **(A/N remember, they are still running). **Then he scooped me up, bridal-style, and he caught us up to the flock. I was going to yell at him, and tell him that I needed my personal space, but to be entirely truthful, as long as it was Fang carrying me, I didn't mind in the slightest. We turned left and started heading for the woods that we landed in.

Fang spread his beautiful black wings, and yes, even though he is a guy, his wings are beautiful, not hott, because calling wings hott is just a little weird. Even by my standards. So, anyhow, he opened his wings, and started to rise up in the air, avoiding the tree branches.

Iggy 'looked' around, and then said, "Where is Max?" Apparently he couldn't hear my wings, and so he thought that I not with them.

"Got her" Fang said in reply. Iggy gave us a knowing look.

"Oh, well do you now?" Iggy said, in a highly mocking tone. We chose not to respond. I loved being able to say 'we' instead of 'Fang and I' it just felt so right.

After about 3 hours Nudge started complaining about being hungry.

"Nudge, at the next town we'll eat, but then we have to fly for 2 hours, and we will stop for the night" I said, really losing my patience. Then again, I wasn't tired yet, because I had yet to fly, I was still in Fang's arms. **(A/N did I just hear a bunch of fan girl's swoon? No, ok then it was just my imagination)**.

About 10 minutes later, Gazzy spotted a town, and he had decided that we should eat there. Total poked his head out of Iggy's backpack "I'm hungry too" he said, still not his usual spunky-ness. We would have to visit Akiela soon.

We were trying to find a place to land, and somewhere else that we could eat.

"Wendy's" Angel shouted, as soon as she spotted the food chain logo.

So that was how we ended up here, in Wendy's, waiting for the lady to take our order. We honestly hadn't been here that long, considering how long the line was, but it felt like it was taking forever. I was so hungry and I am positive that Fang is even hungrier then I am, so we need to get up there, soon.

We finally got up there after like, forever. Fine so about 5 minutes but still, it seemed like it took forever because Nudge was saying 'I'm hungry' like 10 times a minute. But like Fang she manages to make it way longer then that, just Fang makes it so much shorter then humanly possible every time he talks, she makes it longer.

There was an older lady working the counter, I would say that she was in her 50's or so. "What can I get for you today?" she said politely. I already liked this lady, she was not hitting on me or Fang, and she was addressing all of us. What an unusual change….

"3 number 7's with Pepsi to drink, please" I said. As soon as she rang it up, she turned to Fang, who was right behind me, looking around at all the people, feeling closterphobic, just like I was.

"Four numbers 7's, Pepsi to drink, and 1 cherry pie" Fang answered quietly. By now the lady was looking at us in shock, she thought that I had ordered for all of us. Everyone and their assumptions!

Iggy ordered next, "two double cheese-burgers, and two extra large Mountain Dews, and three apple turnovers" he said. We don't know why, but Iggy eats about as much as Gazzy and Angel. Fang eat the most, then me, then Nudge. After that comes Angel then Iggy and Gazzy are about the same, and they eat the least. I always assumed that it would go by age, with the exception of Fang, because he is the strongest, weighs the most, and therefore, eats the most. For some reason Iggys eats very little, by bird-kid standards, that is. For normal people, he would eat about as much as a 600 pound guy. And to think, Fang, the heaviest of us all is only 105 pounds.

"Three number ones. Pretty please, with Mountain Dew, Pepsi, and Red pop mixed for all of those to drink, if it isn't a really super huge hassle. Is that ok?" Nudge rambled. The lady was ringing all this up, with her eyes as wide as saucers. It was pretty funny actually.

She nodded. Then Angel went. "Two number sixes, cherry Pepsi to drink" Angel said. Now the lady was positively gaping.

"One triple cheeseburger, one 7 piece chicken nugget, and a chocolate turnover" Gazzy said.

Once she finished ringing all of that up her looked up to us. "Are you sure that you want that much, that is a lot you know?" she said, not judging, but kindly.

"We have friends in the car, and some of it is for the road" I said. If she is going to be nice, then so am I, yes, I Maximum Ride can be polite if I really try.

"Oh, ok, sorry to intrude, but I just didn't want you to buy more then you could eat. Ok, this is a really big order, and if you add 4 more pies or turnover, or any combination of the four it will be cheaper, because it will be considered a party sized order. Does that sound good?" she said, still kindly.

"Yes thank you. Apple pies, please" I replied, shocked that she would tell me that, so that I would save money, and her business would lose some of its profit.

So we paid, and were off. We made a show of walking up to one of the biggest vans in the parking lot and letting our heads disappear so that it seemed like we got in. Then we sprinted across the parking lot, over to the big strip mall that was across the street. We went behind it, and took off running for the woods.

We sat down of a log, and began the chow down. When we were all mostly full, we still had 5 of the turnovers left, Iggy had one extra. For once, his eyes were bigger then his stomach. Bet I won't be able to say that again…

We were about to take off again, and without thinking, I stretched my wings.

"You going to fly?" Fang asked, not meeting my eye.

"Huh?" I said, hoping that he would _ask_ to carry me. Ha ha ha, ya right like Fang would ask to carry me.

"I am gonna carry you" he said, with a hint of a smile pulling at his lips.

"Oh are you" I said, in a flirty tone. What! No, I do not flirt! I did not just say that! Never!

'_Maximum, when you love someone, you do flirt with them. Does that tell you anything?" _guess who, added there opinion.

'It tells me that you can't keep your opinion to yourself' I mentally replied.

'_I am only telling you this so that you can just admit your feelings, and do something for yourself for once, so that you can fulfill your destiny'_ the voice kindly added. Oh thanks.

'I don't have a destiny other then taking care of my flock!' I shouted, angry again, at my voice. Just as Jeb was about to reply, I was jolted out of my trance by something grabbing my arm.

I came back to reality, only to realize that Fang had picked me up while I was talking to Jeb.

"Remind me to thank Jeb" he said smirking at me.

"For…?" I trailed off, wondering if he would finish what he was saying.

"The easy victory" he said, narrowing his eyes, in mock triumph. He spread his wings then, and got a very evil look in his eyes.

I didn't know what he was going to do, so I didn't say anything. The rest of the flock rose up in the air, following Fangs lead.

The only think was that Fang was going up really really fast. Once we got up to where you couldn't see cars or even houses really, he stopped.

"Are you ready for this Maximum?" he asked in an eerie voice.

"Ready for what?" I asked apprehensively. As soon as I asked, I wished I hadn't, because I saw the answer flash behind his eyes. "NO!" I shouted to him. The flock was just now getting to our level, and was looking at us funny.

He was carrying me bridal style again, but my hands were not around his neck. That would be to close, so they were resting in my lap. For now…. If he did what I thought he was going to do, they would be making contact with his face.

Then Fang looked down at me one more time, and then, with one last smirk, closed his wings.

We started falling like a ton of bricks, and we were going down fast. My first instinct was to jump out of his arms, and fly for myself, but then I tried, he tightened his grip on me. So I wrapped my hands around his neck and brought myself really close to him.

Just when I thought it was too late to open his wings again, he did. We came to a jolting stop, and I was sure that his wings would fall off.

"Don't you trust me Max?" he asked in his usual unemotional voice. To the rest of the flock, that is what it would have sounded like, but to me, I heard the hurt behind his words.

I was about to answer when I noticed how I was holding him. My face was inches from his, and my arms were wrapped around his neck. A flashback of last night crossed through my mind, and I was grinning before I could stop myself.

"Is that a yes?" he asked, again in his emotionally detached voice, but I knew better. He cared, but he wanted to be the macho tough guy, and so he didn't cry, laugh, or show emotion. Sometimes, I catch him looking at me with an emotion in his eye that I can't quite place.

"Yes" I breathed, just as I heard Nudges voice ring out.

"… Think they are ok? What was wrong with Fang? Oh, look, there they are! Let's go get them. They look ok, but they might not be, what happened do you think? Huh, do you think they can hear me? Hum, I wonder. Max, can you hear me? Are you and Fang ok? I didn't hear her say anything. Huh" Nudge rambled.

"You didn't give them any time to responded Nudge" Iggy replied, looking tenderly at Nudge. Wait 'tenderly' at Nudge, grr, I would have to come back to that later.

"We're fine Nudge. Fang just decided to be an idiot" I said first looking at Nudge, then at Fang when I called him an idiot.

Nudge started to ramble again, but I ignored her, and turned to Fang when he said something to me.

"Sorry" he said, smirking again.

"Do it again and see what happens" I threatened, and he knew I was just kidding.

His face transformed when I said that. The sun got brighter, and the world tipped the wrong way. He smiled.

Again, my breathing hitched in my throat. My eyes widened.

"What'ca staring at?" he asked, knowing the answer. I fixed my face into what I hoped was a glare.

"Are we going, or are you going to keep flirting with each other like we aren't even here?" Iggy asked, trying to be in charge, but anyone could have heard the smile in his voice.

'Mentally slap him for me Angel' I thought, smirking, and being thankful that Iggy couldn't see it, and know that I was up to something.

"Ouch!" he yelled glairing at Angel.

She giggled. "Max told me to" she said still laughing, and looked at me smiling.

"Did she?" Iggy said, turning to where Fang was. "Well we wouldn't want… Fang to have to… carry Total, too now would we?" Iggy said, after a hesitation on what he was going to do to Fang, and not coming up with anything to bad.

Fang just started flapping his wings harder so that we rose into the air. The rest of the flock came up with us, and Iggy was over that now, it seemed.

After an hour or so, Fang started gently rubbing in-between my wings where they attach to my back with his thumbs.

"Come on Max, you have to wake up now" a gentle voice said in my ear.

"Ummmm" I murmured. There was a quiet chuckle that sounded familiar, but I don't know if I have ever heard it before.

"Come on" the voice, which I now identified as male, said. I reached up to figure out who was talking, and my hands came into contact with a very smooth and very rough face. I know what you are thinking, how can it be smooth and rough at the same time? Well, talk to Fang if you want to know.

Oh my God, Fang! I realized as soon as I thought that that I was feeling Fangs face. Wait, why was I feeling anyone's face?! Oh gosh, I just had my hands on Fangs face!

My eyes snapped open to see a pair of chocolate brown eyes looking down at me. "You up now?" the owner of those eyes asked.

"What time is it?" I asked groggily.

"Don't know, but we are here" he said. I looked around for the first time, not knowing where 'here' was.

We were at a Super Six motel. He noticed me looking around. "We had been flying for a few hours, and you said to stop after 2, so I landed at the first hotel I saw" he said, looking down at me.

"Ok, put me down" I said stretching my legs and arms. "Please" I added after looking at his face which had one eyebrow raised, and his head tilted in an expression that said 'what is the magic word?'

He put me down gently, not taking his hands off of my shoulder, and making sure that I could stand ok. I wobbled a bit, and my vision turned fuzzy, but I was ok after a minute.

"Thanks" I said to him, and turned to the rest of the flock. "Same pairings as last time?" I then shouted.

"Yeah!" was Nudges enthusiastic response. Then she started rambling to Angel about what they were going to do.

"As long as you two can keep it PG then sure" Iggy said joking and smiling. I was going to yell at him, but I figured that we could do that tonight when we told him about the plan that we came up with. Minus the gun, that is, because we didn't want even him to know that we were going to have a gun.

So I walked up to the counter and started pulling out my Max Ride card.

"Need some help with that?" a male voice said. Well it was male, but it wasn't a mans voice, it was still a young teen voice.

I looked up to see two tanned guys who looked ridiculously alike looking… gaping… at me.

I ignored there comment, not wanting to assume the worst about them quite yet. "Three rooms" I said in my normal voice.

"Single, or Double?" the younger looking one said. "Ethan, by the way."

"Double" I replied, trying to brush off the way both of there eyes were raking my body up and down, just like the sales clerk, but even more obvious.

"Do you need someone to join you in one of those beds? I am _more_ then willing" the older one said, raising his eyebrows, and then lowering them quickly.

"Hell. No." I said, now super pissed off. I tried to ignore them, and they didn't take a hint.

"Smoking or non. I say smoking, cause your on fire!" they older one said, not even slightly discouraged.

"Non you asshole" I said, trying to get him to take a hint.

"Awe, come on, we both know you want me, so you can have me, he can work the desk" the bigger jerk said. "My names Eric, by the way."

"I am in no way interested, and if you don't leave me the hell alone, I will gladly beat you till you don't know what happened" I ground out through my teeth, trying not to kill them now.

"We can try wrestling if you want. Want top or bottom?" Ethan said.

Suddenly I felt a pair of hands on my waist. "Is there a problem here boys?"

"Now that your hands are on my girls waist, yes there is" Eric said, standing up straighter.

"Your girl" Fang said, with a slightly evil smirk on his face.

"You sexist pigs! I am not a possession, I can not be owned!" I shouted causing the flock to glance over, and see that it was under control.

"Don't worry Baby, you can be mine soon, as soon as we take care of this loser" he said looking at Fang. "You and me" pointing to himself "the best man gets the girl." He said, smirking like the arrogant jerk he is.

"Are you sure you want that?" Fang said, now with his evil glare on.

"I sure as hell do, and excuse my French" Eric said, now looking sweetly at me. Ya right! Like this jerk could be sweet!

"Hey, I want in on this!" Ethan said, pouting. What is with guys these days being all pouty like?

"I don't need the help" Eric snarled.

"Oh yes you do" Fang said, taking off his black hoodie, and revealing his black Trapt t-shirt. His favorite song is currently Headstrong, by Trapt. **(Headstrong is the perfect song for Fang. It fits his personality perfectly, and it is the type of music I picture him listening to, Rock. Listen to it, and you will love it. It is by Trapt).**

He had his muscles flexed, and he looked perfect like that.

Eric walked out from behind the counters and turned to me. "Don't worry baby, I will protect you."

"I. Don't. Need. Protecting." I ground out.

"Its ok honey, you don't need to explain yourself to me" he said, looking at me nicely. Maybe he is really a good guy and just didn't know how to express his feelings. No, no defiantly not.

So all of them got out into the center of the lobby.

I won't give you all the gory details but let's just say that both Eric and Ethan will be feeling that for a long time… if they feel anything at all.  
Eric was clutching his… groin and had tears running down his face. Fang walked over to him, and bent down to whisper something in his ear. Then he smirked and walked back over to where I was standing.

"Lets go, we get a discount, put your card away" Fang said, smirking at me like something was funny. Then again, something was, Eric and Ethan were both on the ground, and I was free to go and spit on them. So I did. Then I turned to Fang and wrapped my hands around his waist. Just for show of course… ok I will admit; it did feel good to wrap them around his waist. But you didn't hear that from me.

So in the meantime, the flock was watching what was going on, and Gazzy picked up Fangs hoodie and handed it to him. Then he left Eric and Ethan to deal with one of his newly acquired _gift._ Yes, let's call it a gift…

So we walked upstairs, I still refused to go in the elevator, and found our rooms. I opened the door, only to see one big bed. That would be when I realized that I said double bed rooms.

What I meant was 3 rooms with two beds each, double sized. I did not mean 3 rooms with 1 bed each, all double beds. That was apparently what those pervs thought I meant. I will get them. O jeeze, I have to share this bed with Fang. It is way too small to sleep on with him. We would be soo close.

**A/N ha ha ha. My first cliffy ever! Do you like it? No I bet that you hate it, but heck, if it gets me more **_**reviews**_** then I love it. That my friends, is your cue to review! (You should be happy, it isn't even that bad of a cliffy,is isn't even like Max got kidnapped, and then I say that I will update after 50 reviews or something, so be happy, and review for my sake) So go ahead with that, in case you forgot how, press the purplish-bluish button and then type your opinion in the box that shows up. Thank you!**

**And to all of you who do know how to review, when I first started using FanFiction, I didn't know to review, so I really wish someone would have told me how to. So I was not insulting your intelligence, so don't be mad. And heck, if your mad, review and tell me why. **

**Thanks, and i will love you forever. **

**I am going to assume that you have read 'Dirty little secret' by now, becasue if you havent, let me tell you you are missing out. she updates WAY more often they i do, and we dont ever update on the same day, so in between reading mine, read hers, and in between hers, read mine (please!) and then review for both of them. tell me whose story you heard of first, just so i can know. thank you so so so much. read it, or i will... idk what i will do, but trust me, you dont want to know. the story is by MFINGA and is WONDERFUL so read it asap**

**Happy Halloween by the way...**

**Julie AV**


	11. Talks and Plans

Chapter 11

Talks and Plans

Fang's pov

I was honestly ready to kill Eric and Ethan, but I didn't. I just nearly killed them, which was hard to do, because once I got that close, I just wanted to finish it. I know that that sounds really psychotic and everything, but what they were saying just made me so angry with them. They only knew her by her looks, and they were already willing to jump into bed with her. Those stupid pervs!

But once I walked into the room that Max and I were staying in, I loved them. They gave us one bed that was too small. That meant that Max and I would share it, and would be right next to each other. And I mean right next to her…

"Well, how about you go take a shower, and I go check on the rest of the flock in their rooms." Max said, slowly walking backwards. 'Where is she going with this?' I wondered, but nodded at her. With that, she turned and rushed out of the room.

I walked over to the opposite side of the bed, setting down both of our backpacks. I unzipped mine, getting out a pair of shorts and boxers. Tonight was going to be the night that we tell Iggy about our plan. I went into the bathroom with my boxers in hand, and grabbed the towel and washcloth. I took off my shirt and threw it to the side after deciding that either Max or I would have to do laundry tonight.

I heard a knock but it sounded distant, so it wasn't on the bathroom door. It must have been on the front door.

"Hey man, open up!" Iggy shouted.

I didn't worry about putting on a shirt, because, obviously, Iggy was blind. So I walked out to the door and opened it after looking out the peephole. What? You can't be too careful when you're a mutant on the run.

"What?" I asked when he realized that I had opened the door.

"I need to come in" ok… now I was worried, what did he need to come in to tell me? "Max told me that you guys needed to tell me something tonight, and that I would have to sneak out. She said that I couldn't tell anyone. What is it that is so important?" Iggy said, getting angrier the longer he talked.

"Cant say" I said, knowing that Max would be mad if I told him without her here too.

"Fang. Tell me now" Iggy said, sounding really really ticked off.

"Max will tell you tonight." I said, wondering what had him so angry.

"Fang if you and Max did something, and now you guys have to pay for it, you had better tell me now because it would upset Max if I killed you in front of her. And God so help me, I will kill you. What did you do that you have to tell me in secret, at night, that the rest of the flock can know about? When did that happen?!" Iggy was yelling now.

"I swear Iggy, if we did that, you would be the first to know" I said hoping to not have to tell him right now without Max, but not wanting him to get mad at me for not telling him right now.

"Oh yeah, then what is the big secret?" Iggy said, still seething, but calming down slightly. I think…

Then the door opened up a little bit further. Max poked her head in, "what is your problem Iggy?!" she whisper shouted, also mad.

"Oh, Max. Umm, I am going to go, Gazzy is calling me I think…" Iggy lied, not very happy about being caught asking me if Max and I had sex.

"I am going to tell you what is going on, later. As in tonight. So leave now, and be back when I knock on your door, _after everyone's asleep_. So that they don't hear yet, I want your opinion before we do it. If you can't handle it, then never mind. Can you keep your mouth shut about this or do I need to take you out of the plans?" she asked coldly. Ok, so apparently she hadn't heard what Iggy thought that we were going to tell him, just that he wanted to know. That was good…

Iggy realized that he had made a mistake and so he said "fine" and turned and left. He was trying to save some of his pride I think, but alls I knew was that if Max had come back 2 minutes earlier, then I would have been screwed and had to tell her.

I think tonight I will tell Max a little bit of how I feel, and see if she runs. She was fine when I told her that I needed her, and when she kissed me she didn't run, so maybe she was ready for this. I don't know though, but I have to tell her soon, or I may lose my chance for good. I don't know if I could live with that.

So I jumped in the shower, like I planned on doing before Iggy interrupted me, and turned on the hot water.

Max's pov

When I walked in I could tell that I was the last person that Fang wanted to walk in. That hurt me, bad, but I figured that he and Iggy were having a… mutant to mutant… conversation. Then again, Iggy would pretty much be talking to himself, but still. I tried, unsuccessfully, to not stare at Fangs chest, which, may I add, had no shirt covering it. I failed miserably, but I don't think that he noticed.

Now he was in the shower, and Nudge came running in with some clothes.

"Max, Max, Max, you have to wear this! It was in the room folded in one of the drawers, and it was still in the package. They are so cute! You have _got_ to wear these! They are Eeyore pajamas. I don't know what piglet is, but she is really really cute! I love them so much, I want them, but they are too big, I tried them on, but they didn't fit. We will have to get pajamas for when we stay in hotels so that it will be more normal people. Pretty pretty please, just wear them?" oh lord, please just shut her up!

"Fine!" I cut her off. Then I looked at them pjs that I was expected to wear. They consisted of, 1.) some _very _small shorts and a pretty cute tank top. They would work for in hotels, if they fit when I tried them on… Who was I kidding, I would never wear those.

"No" I said, looking at them with disgust.

'Fang thinks that you should wear them, he thinks that you would look really beautiful in them. Are you going to?' Angel asked in my mind. Now Nudge was holding them in front of her, dangling them by her fingers, like she was waiting for me to grab them. So I snatched them out of her hand, and when I turned on my heal to go to Iggys room to change, I spotted Fang in the corner staring at me.

"What?" I said, shortly, and realized that he had seen the whole display. He just let a small smile creep onto his face. I just stormed past him, into the bathroom.

After I put them on, I turned and looked in the mirror. I literally groaned when I saw my reflection. I looked like a very tramp-y slut. Oh great, just great.

I was not going to walk out in the pajamas, until I heard Iggy say something that sounded like 'Max would never wear those, they sound way too skimpy for her. She is not confident enough to do that.'

So I obviously had to prove him wrong, didn't I? So I squared my shoulders, and cracked my neck, and turned the handle. When I walked out it was all quiet, for a split second, then it got really loud, really fast.

"Ohmygod! Max that looks so cute on you! Oh geese, I wish I would look that good in those! They are"

"Wow."

"Ohhh, I like them so much, they really do look good on you."

"Shut up, all this noise hurts my head!"

All the comments were blurred together, but what I really wanted was to get back in the bathroom, because now I was starting to feel really self conscious. So when I turned, I walked right into the chest of the man whose opinion mattered the most. Fang. A very happy looking Fang, he wasn't smiling, but he did have a happy look in his eyes.

I pushed past him, yet again, and began to walk away. He grabbed my arm, and leaned in to me.

"Keep them on, so Nudge won't make you" he whispered in my ear. I looked accusingly at him, and he put on an 'innocent' expression similar to Angels or Nudges.

I was trying to figure out if he had an alternate motive for this, and the only thing I found was alternate motives. He did want her to stop talking, but that was not his only motive. He had some other purpose, but I don't know what it is yet… but I will figure it out.

So now, we were finishing up dinner (we had ordered room service) and it was getting late.

"Alright guys, we get to order one movie, then it is bed time" I said with my 'I am the leader' tone.

There was some grumbling, but once it sunk in that they could order one on the TV, they were happy even if they had to go to sleep. But I wasn't really in the mood for a movie.

I felt the couch move when someone sat down next to me, knocking me out of my own world. "They said 'can we watch Nick and Norah's infinite play list?'" Iggy questioned, loudly, if I do say so myself.

"Huh, oh, uh, ya sure" I said, not knowing at all what it was about. Seriously though, they have been though everything, so what could this have that is to bad for them? Nothing, it was only PG13, and if you ask me, Gazzy is mature enough for the violence in those, being that he makes bombs on a regular basis. Angel is probably just as mature as me, because she has to hear everyone's thoughts, and I feel so bad that she has to deal with all the pervs out there. Poor Angel.

That is just another reason for me to kill Eric and Ethan. They had some very dirty thoughts, judging by the scowl on Angel and Iggys face when they walked past them. She probably told him, and that is why Iggy was so ticked off about that.

I wasn't really into the movie, I was zoning in and out, thinking about what me and Fang had decided to do. Of course, if Iggy pointed out any major issues, we would listen, but for the most part, we had already decided. I knew Iggy would agree, he would have an excuse to blow things up then, and he could also make booby traps, which I knew he was good at, because of the last few days at the E-shaped house.

That would be when I noticed that there was a girl moaning. 'Oh shoot! What are they watching?!'

There was a giggle "your hands are cold!" she said, and then went back to moaning. **(A/N I loved this movie, this was the only part I didn't like, but if you can, I suggest that you see it. You don't see anything, so ya, it is really really good, just this part is weird)**.

"Umm, this is awkward" oh, gee thanks Iggy, I had no idea. He obviously knew what was going on.

"What are they doing?" Gazzy asked. Wow, I can not explain that to him, at all. He is 8 for Pete's sake!

"He is tickling her" Fang said coolly. Thank you to Fang!

"Wow, she laughs funny. That is so weird that she laughs like that. My laugh is more like Ha ha ha! Not ummmhuummmm" she moaned that last part, and I felt my face heating up. Oh god, if I ever hear that noise from her again, I will kill whatever guy is near her. "Seriously I have never heard someone laugh like that; I don't even know what to think! She must be really strange, like weird, but not like us, because we have an excuse to be weird, it isn't our fault! Why were her pants undone? Ha ha ha, I feel bad for her, she forgot to close her fly!" she said, and thankfully that part in the movie was over. If only she knew, that would be extremely very bad. Very, very bad.

"You know what, it is getting late. We all have to go to sleep now. Next time we stay in a hotel we can get two movies, but we need to sleep tonight, because we are getting up early to leave. Bedtime; I will be in your rooms in 5 minutes, you better be in bed" I said not knowing how much more of that was in the movie. All the younger ones started grumbling, and complaining, but Iggy wanted out of there just as bad as I did. And Fang did too, I bet.

After a few minutes of arguing, I told them that they could get 2 desserts right now, and then they had to go to sleep. They agreed immediately to that one. Point for me!

I tucked in Angel and Nudge, they were both almost out when I left. When I tucked in Gazzy, I told him goodnight, I whispered to Iggy "when I knock on the door, come to our room. The door will be open."

He nodded his head minutely, and I turned and walked out, closing the door quietly behind me.

I came back into Fang and my room. He was sitting on the bed, and when I opened the door, he smirked at me.

"Enjoy the movie?" he asked, referring to the 'cold hands' scene.

I shot him a dirty look. _Now this_ was going to be a very awkward conversation. Great. "When they said PG13 I assumed that was for violence. I didn't even think of _that,_ and they have been through more violence then any film maker, so they could handle that. I did not expect _that_ to be in a movie" I tried to explain to him, without adding awkwardness.

He smiled his 'I am laughing' smile. It was different then his 'I am happy' smile, but only slightly. I have only seen the pure happiness one a few times, but when I did I stored them in my head for later, to look at when I couldn't sleep, this would help. No, I am not a psycho for all of you who are asking.

"Ya should have seen your face" he said, smirking at me in that arrogant way of his.

"Jerk" I said back to him.

"Not true" he said in return, with humor in his voice. I loved the way his eyes were happy, he was talking to me, and just… I loved how we were just talking, me and him, him and me….

"Fine" I scoffed, entirely joking, because I knew he wasn't a jerk by any definition.

"Max, I" he said, his tone a 360˚ a different one from his last tone. Oh shoot, here goes that talk. I was happy about it before, but now I am downright… scarred. What is he going to say?!

"I'm sorry" he said simply.

"What?" I said slowly, what did he have to apologies for? Nothing. He had nothing to apologies for, nothing at all.

"Last night" he replied. I was instantly hit with a wave of grief, was I really that bad of a person that he was ashamed that I liked him? Was that it?

"No, if you didn't want to do that, you didn't have to" he was looking at his hands when he said this. He must have known what I was thinking, how he did, I don't know. Maybe he can read my mind? No I am kidding, he can't, but seriously, how does he always know what I am thinking?

I took a deep breath. I did not want to have to say this, ever. "I started it, didn't I?" that wasn't so bad, was it? Yes, it was why am I such an idiot? Why can't I just know what to say like some people do?

He looked up, shocked. We were both silent for a minute. "So you were ok with that?" he asked, so quiet I may have been imagining it.

"I liked it, but… I don't know… I'm so confused" I didn't even know where this came from. How come Fang was asking me about feelings, and I honestly didn't know the answers? Why does he even care?

_'Because he likes you just as much as you like him' _Jeb put in.

'Gee, thanks for the oh-so-great info' I thought back to him, irritated. Why does he always interrupt?

_'I am your father, it is my job' _he again, put in some VERY unwanted advice.

'You are not my father!' I said, angrily, not wanting to think about that right now.

A hand on my leg knocked me out of my own little world. I was about to attack when I realized that it was just Fang, trying to get my attention.

"You ok?" Fang said looking concerned.

"Huh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just Jeb" I was slightly dazed by two things, his hand on my leg, and the conversation with the voice.

"Sure?" he was worried, I could tell by the way his eyebrows were slightly scrunched up and lowered. It was a very subtle movement, that I don't think anyone but me would have noticed, but I might be giving myself too much credit.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm perfect" I said, truthfully, because sitting here with him, it was easy to forget that we were mutants, on the run, and being hunted. Just his presence made me forget that, I am pathetic, and… I am in… love. If love is what they make it out to be, then this is defiantly love.

"Well if you ar" and then a knock on the door interrupted what we were about to say. Are you kidding me?! He was finally going to get to the point, and he gets interrupted!

I got up angrily to get the door, only to realize that it is 12:30, and that Iggy is waiting outside the door.

"Forget about me?" he asked, mocking, when I pulled back the many locks and opened the door.

"Ya, we got started without you, sorry, but it's over" I said, just to mess with him.

"I guess you have to start over again then don't you?" he said, picking up that I was only kidding with him.

"Only for you Iggy" I smiled out.

"Sure sure, lets just get started" he said, waving his hand like goofy does in Micky Mouse.

I grabbed his hand, and walked over to the bed with him in tow. Fang followed us, after closing and locking the door.

Iggy sat down and then the look on his face changed "so what is it that you had to tell me in private?" he questioned, not as angry as before, but worried now.

"We have a plan, and it could be dangerous. We want your opinion before we start" I answered wondering how in the world I was going to explain it to him. I felt a hand grab mine, and I knew instantly whose hand it was, because it was rough, soft, gentle, and calloused at the same time. It was Fangs hand. I don't know why, but I didn't pull away, I just drew courage from that. I was going to tell Iggy our plan to get Itex off our back, while holding the most perfect hand in the world. I loved my life.

"Go on…."

"We were going to set up traps for them, and get it set up perfectly, and then make sure that they find out where we are. Once they get there, you and Gazzy are going to set off the bombs that you guys made. We will make sure that none of them make it out alive. After that, we will move to a new spot, and do it again, making sure that none make it out. The plan is to keep doing that until they are _scarred_ to find us, because they will think that we are waiting for them, and they will die if they come. How do you like it?" I was worried about what he was going to say, because he had been silent the whole time, and he hadn't even moved, but there was a look of deep concentration on his face.

"Its… perfect. Why didn't you think of it before?" he hesitated, and I flinched, getting ready for him to point out some obvious flaw. When he didn't I relaxed a bit.

I felt Fang move beside me and his hand gripped mine tighter.

"Umm, we are super geniuses and everything, but this is beyond our normal level of thinking. Give us a break" I said, trying to ignore the fact that Fang was still holding my hand, and rubbing circles on it, relaxing me even more.

"So whose this 'we'?" Iggy said in a mocking yet superior tone. Oh geese, I said in they whole speech, didn't I? Crap.

"Umm, I meant that Fang came up with the plan, and I liked it" I said hurriedly so that he wouldn't make any bad comments like he tends to do. Sick perverted mind of a teenage boy.

"So now you and Fang are a 'we' well that is interesting…" Iggy trailed off.

I had no idea what to say, so I just decided to stay quiet and wait for Fang to say something. That was a stupid idea because Fang doesn't ever break the silence, so why think that he would now? He wouldn't.

There was a very awkward silence, and I finally broke it. "Do you think that you could make a bigger bomb then the biggest one you have ever built?" I was trying to change the subject to something that he would go along with and it worked.

"You are telling me to build the biggest bomb I possibly can?" he asked looking at me like I was crazy.

"Yes. The only thing is that we have to be able to put it somewhere where we can see it, it wont hurt us, and it will blow up just when we need it to. Can you do that?" I asked, wondering if I was going to let him go to far.

"You are seriously asking me if I can make a perfect bomb? Obviously" he said ahhh Iggy, always the modest one.

"Don't tell Gazzy or anyone yet, and don't think about it. First we have to find the right spot," I said, warning him the same thing I had warned him earlier.

"Kay, goodnight, I am tired" he said, still grinning because he had permission to blow things up.

We stacked fists. When I released Fangs hand, or the other way around, I am not sure, but anyhow, my hand was all tingly and my entire body was happy. I don't know how to describe how happy I was, but the only way I know how to say would be to use tons of words that people like Shakespeare used. Not people like Maximum Ride.

I was going to ask him what was up with him holding my hand, but I just couldn't because then he might think I didn't like it. But if I didn't, he may think that that is his cue to not do it again, because I didn't like it. I did like it, but how do I tell him that?

"Looked like your hands were cold" he said, when he noticed that I was looking at him.

I smiled at him. "They were." That was my way of telling him that when he grabbed my hand, it was ok.

He looked up from under his eyelashes and smiled a very tiny smile. He had been doing that a lot lately, and that made me happy. I was happy when he was happy. Scary, isn't it?

Then he reached out and put his hand in a fist. I thought that he was going to go to sleep and we were going to stack fists, so I put my hand out. We stacked, and then when I started to pull my hand back, he grabbed it, and opened my fingers up (without much resistance from me…) and he inked our fingers together. He pulled me over to the bed and pulled back the covers. I wasn't sure what he was doing, but I lay down in the bed. He pulled the covers over me, never letting go of my hand, and walked over to the other side of the bed.

He lay down and turned to me. Letting go of my hand, he grabbed my waist, and pulled me toward him. I was a mere inches from him, and I… liked it.

He looked me deep in the eyes, making sure that I was ok with this, and then he leaned in and kissed my forehead. I was shocked, to say the least. When I didn't know what I wanted, he kissed me on the lips, but now that I want to be kissed on the lips, he goes for my forehead?! Why?!

It was so sweet that I started getting all emotional though. He smiled slightly when I leaned into his lips.

"Night" he said. I was so happy that I couldn't even think straight.

"Goodnight" I replied, trying not to let him know how happy I really was. I don't know why he was being… different, but I was happy that he was. Fang, he was so perfect, he was handsome but didn't know it, so he wasn't stuck up about it. He was caring, but not in the so sensitive that I-will-cry-if-you-tell-me-that-my-shirt-is-ugly kind of way. He was strong enough to make you feel safe, not that I can't take care of myself. He is the picture of perfection.

I was continuing my list of reasons that Fang is perfect when I lost conciseness.

Fang's pov

After Iggy left, I don't know why, but I had to know if Max liked it as much as I did when I grabbed her hand. I don't know why I did. I don't even remember doing it, I just remember wanting to, and then suddenly I was. I was going to pull away as fast as I could, but I figured that I may as well enjoy it because she would not run away with Iggy in the same room. To my shock she squeezed my hand gently.

Then when he left, I decided to subtly see what she thought of it.

"Looked like your hands were cold" I said. I was… nervous about her reaction. Strange….

"They were" she replied with a big smile on her face. I looked up, trying to fight off the enormous smile that was threatening to take over my whole face.

I put my hand out to stack fists and she extended her hand to do the same thing. When we finished, I didn't hesitate to grab her hand, and open it out of a fist, and linked our hands together.

She looked so confused; but not angry or even disgusted like I would have expected. I started walking towards the bed. I pulled the covers back, and she crawled in. Her eyebrows were raised, and pulled up in the middle making her look so confused that I wasn't sure she even knew what he was doing. I was glad that she trusted me enough to just follow what I told her to do, even when she didn't know why.

I pulled the covers over her without letting her hand go. By now she knew what I was doing. She had a small smile on her lips now.

I walked over to my side of the bed and got in, covering up after I lay down. I let go of her hand, and she seemed disappointed in that fact. I was happy that she wasn't running and screaming yet, because this is the most emotion I have showed since Jeb left when I was 11.

I pulled her closer by wrapping my hand around her waist, until she was so close that I just had to stretch my neck a little bit and I could kiss her forehead.

So I did. She seemed ecstatic and disappointed at the same time. I realized with a jolt that she wanted me to kiss her on the lips. I couldn't do that, because I don't know if I could control myself.

I am a 14 almost 15 year old man, and laying this close on a bed, with the most beautiful woman on the planet was testing my self control. I was trying to fight off my manly thoughts, and for once I was winning.

She leaned into my lips, and I couldn't fight off the smile that took over my face. She wasn't running when I kissed her, she was smiling. Granted, it was just a peck on the forehead, but still, it was a step.

I pulled back and said "night."

"Goodnight" I could tell she was smiling because of the difference in her tone of voice.

I was thinking that maybe just maybe, we could get together and be a real couple when I was taken into unconsciousness and started dreaming about the fateful day on the beach when I nearly died. At the time I hate Ari, but now, he was in the top twenty favorite people in the world.

**DREAM**

I was walking along the beach where Max first kissed me, and we were holding hands like we had tonight.

She was talking, and every now and then I was adding in a word, or maybe two. Everything was perfect, the sun was setting, the waves were crashing onto the sand making a very romantic sound, and Max was there. It couldn't get any more perfect.

I stopped walking, and so did she. I turned toward her, and like she knew what I wanted, she turned to me. I leaned in to kiss her. She smiled and started leaning forward too.

Then my world turned upside down. There was a loud noise, which I assume was a gunshot. I pushed Max to the ground and jumped on top of her. I kept my weight off of her, because I didn't want to hurt her, but I made sure that I was on top of her. Unless the bullet went though me, then she was safe. That was all that mattered.

'Leave her alone' was the only thing running through my mind as I wondered why there were no more shots, and the only noise I heard was a few laughs. They weren't sadistic or anything, just a normal 'this is funny' kind of laugh.

I don't know at what point I realized that I recognized those laughs as the flocks, but by the time I did, the damage was done.

I slowly opened my eyes, fearing what I would see... I was right, Max was under me curled into a ball and I was wrapped almost completely around her.

I rolled as fast as I could off of her, and ended up rolling the wrong way, and on to the floor. Iggy busted out laughing, hearing the sound, and guessing what it was.

Max also fell off the bed, and I assumed that she had woke up with the sound of my fall, and it scarred her, so she jumped up tripped and fell on me.

Angel found this to be the funniest thing she had seen in a while. Apparently she had told Iggy, or showed him, what happened and he thought it was great to. Oh joy.

Angel's pov

I heard how nervous Max was, and so I was going to help calm her down, but I didn't know how.

It was a great plan, I heard it in Fangs mind for months before he told Max, and I couldn't find any flaws in it. I wanted Max to tell Iggy so I decided to help. I was supposed to be sleeping, but I stayed awake so I could know the outcome of this meeting.

It probably wasn't the best idea; I didn't want Max to push Fang away again, but I couldn't help myself. It was the perfect opportunity. I 'asked' Fang to grab Max's hand, and then I backed off and let whatever is supposed to happen, happen.

Her reaction made both me and Fang ecstatic because she just kept his hand at her side holding on to it. When she told Iggy about her plan, she was thinking that she drew courage from Fangs hand in hers.

After he left, she and Fang started talking. I was happy and, yes, I wanted to know what was going to happen, but I pulled out of both of there minds and gave them some privacy.

I woke up with a jolt when someone's thoughts were so happy that they couldn't even contain there joy. They were screaming there thoughts. It was Max. Fang had kissed her forehead. She replayed it, and it was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. I was tempted to wake up Nudge and tell her so we could go awwwwe at the same time. I would tell her in the morning…

For now I am just going to go back to sleep…

In the morning when I woke up, I went to get Iggy so we could wake up Max and Fang. Iggy had the key to there room, and I was not going to be the one to wake up Nudge.

Iggy banged loudly on the door after saying "for there privacy." He slid the key in the lock, and then opened the door. Fang was on top of Max, and she was in a little ball.

"Leave her alone, Leave her alone" he was saying over and over. He had his arms wrapped protectively around her, like he was shielding her from something. He must have been dreaming, I wonder what he was dreaming about.

I felt bad about laughing, but I couldn't help it, the picture was just so funny. He was walking with her, and just when he went to kiss her a 'gunshot' went off. That would be when Iggy knocked on the door. So he knocked her to the ground and got on top of her, so he could protect her, and then woke up when I busted out laughing.

He tried to get off of Max as fast as he could, but he rolled the wrong way, and fell off the bed, taking Max with him.

Max's eyes snapped open, and she looked down, and upon seeing Fang below her, she shrieked and jumped up, smacking her head on the bed side table. She fell back down onto Fang, and looked up to see us (Iggy and I) laughing hysterically at her. She slid off of Fang, and grabbed her head.

"Ehhh, what happened?" she said, obviously in pain.

"Sounds like Fang was on top of you, woke up, fell off the bed, you came down with him, tried to get up, hit you head, and now you are here… asking what happened. But I'm not sure, that is just what I heard" Iggy said, fighting his hardest to keep from laughing.

Her eyes snapped open, and she turned and looked at Fang.

"Oh, well, umm, ya" she said, not even knowing what to say to that.

"We were just hungry. So when you get up, could you come get us so we can go get breakfast?" I asked, trying to clear up the awkwardness. It worked, slightly.

"Ok, we will be out there in 5 minutes" she replied, looking confused.

I grabbed Iggy's hand and walked out the door. "Umm, that was… interesting" he said flatly.

'Don't tell everyone about that, it would just embarrass them more' I thought to him, I didn't say it because I didn't want Gazzy to hear it, we were passing his room.

"You ruin all the fun" he said with a smile on his face. I smiled and showed him in my mind, so he would know that I was smiling at him.

Max's pov

I felt a weight on top of me, but it wasn't hurting me, it seemed like it was protecting me.

I don't know why, but when I tried to get up, I couldn't. I was in that dream-like state where you can hear what is going on around you, but you can't respond.

I woke up as soon as I heard some mumbling, and then a laugh. Angel was laughing. Then with one sudden movement, the presence I had felt over me, was gone. I heard a thump, and that was all it took to wake me up completely. I tried to jump up and get into a fighting stance, but I felt something wrap around my ankle. I didn't notice until I had already fallen that they sheets were wrapping both of my ankles together, so I had no balance.

I fell down on to something that felt familiar, but it shouldn't have, because somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that I had only fallen on it one other time. It was Fang.

I opened my eyes to confirm, as I was making the decision to get up ASAP. I used my arms to push myself up as fast a I could, only to be knocked back down on top of him when I slammed my head into something sharp and hard.

"Ehhh, what happened?" I asked, wondering why, for the second time, I had woken up on the floor with Fang (not that I minded who I woke up with).

I suddenly remembered the previous night. We had told Iggy about the plan, and when doing so, I held hands with Fang. Then Iggy left, and Fang kissed me goodnight, on the forehead. Then I fell asleep in his arms, with me cradled right next to him.

That was the best nights sleep I have had in a while. I became aware of someone talking now. Answering my question of why I was here.

"…hit you head, and now you are here… asking what happened. But I'm not sure, that is just what I heard" Iggy said, snickering every now and then. My eyes widened that the fact that I didn't wake up sooner. I tried to remember the last time I didn't wake up when someone was on top of me, someone else was banging on the door, and the person on top of me was talking. It never happened before; then again, I had never woken up in a situation remotely similar to this one….

"Oh, well, umm, ya…" I trailed off lamely.

"We were just hungry. So when you get up, could you come get us so we can go get breakfast?" Angel said, and I could tell that she was feeling bad for the awkwardness and she was trying to clear it up.

"Ok, we'll be out there in 5 minutes" I said, grateful for Angels help getting me back on track.

Angel grabbed Iggys hand and innocently hurried out of the room. I heard him say something but I couldn't tell what it was.

I looked up to Fang, not wanting to make this weirder then it has to be. "And why were you on top of me?" I made sure that my tone was joking and mocking so that he wouldn't get… defensive.

"Nightmare" he said, not meeting my eye.

"About what?" I asked, trying not to feel offended or disgusted that his nightmare involved him being on top of me.

"Wasn't all bad" he said shrugging.

"What was it about" I retorted, getting frustrated.

"We were on a beach… talking, and I heard a gun fire" he said, and I noticed a hesitation when he said what we were doing on the beach. Snort, talking, ya right, I know how his mind works, and he is gonna be turning 15 in… I don't know how long, what is the date?

"I still don't get why you were on top of me… but if it is something that you don't want to explain, then please, don't" I said, suddenly feeling pity for him if he was dreaming about what I think he was dreaming about.

His face shot up to meet mine. "No, I was" he hesitated before continuing "protecting you." He whispered, as if he didn't want to get yelled at.

"Protecting me?" I laughed.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Yes, got a problem with that?" his voice was back to its old mock/menace/ Fang like tone. I liked it.

"I do in fact" I said, smiling as if daring him to try to do something about it.

We were both standing by now, and I had the back of my facing the bed. Suddenly his hand flinched. Then he rolled his shoulders, in the exact same way he used to when we were getting ready to wrestle back at the E-shaped house. I tensed my whole body, and looked him straight in the eye, daring him to do it.

Suddenly, he was gone.

I looked around, trying to find him, but I didn't see him anywhere! He was just gone. Then, he was back, and only inches in front of my face.

"Boo" he said in a flat emotionless voice that would have been freaky, if it weren't for the fact that he used to try to scare me all the time with it. It never worked, ok fine, he scared me one or two times….

Then, when I went to hook my foot around the back of his knees so he would fall, he pushed me gently backwards, coming down on top of me, but carefully keeping his one arm down to hold him up. That defiantly backfired on me…

I put my hands on his shoulders, and pushed with almost all my strength. In other fights, this achieved two things, pushing me up and out of there reach, and pushing them down, so that I could get up. In this 'fight' it got me nowhere.

I had forgotten how good Fang was. We were pretty well matched, and we were not trying to hurt each other, obviously, but still. I hadn't fought him in so long, because before he would just sit, or stand there and take it. Now he was fighting back. It felt like old times, but now it was tons more fun.

Finally somehow he ended up on top, and my arms were pinned above my head with one of his hands. I am pretty sure that I could have gotten out of it if we were really fighting, but that would involve kneeing him in a very bad place.

"Got'cha" he said smirking. I tried to muster up the very best impression of a 'evil Iggy smirk' as we loved to call it, that I could. He defiantly knew that something was going to happen.

I felt all of his muscles tense, and I was shocked, once again, at how built he was. How could he fly when he was so heavy from all the muscle?

But my plan was still going to work. Suddenly I lowered my hips as far into the bed as I could, and then used all of the strength that I could possibly have and shoved them out into one of his legs. It slid out from under him, just like I wanted and he fell down slightly.

Out of instinct his arm holding my hands up loosened when he tried to catch himself so he wouldn't fall on me. I wasn't too worried about if he did fall, because stuff a lot heavier had fallen on me before, erasers.

I yanked my hands out of his hold before he could do anything about it, and pushed my with hand on his upper arm. Then I pulled on this left shoulder, and used my legs to help flip him.

Again, it worked, and he flipped over, so I was above him. "Now who has who?" I said, grinning, I was way too proud that I had beaten him. But he wasn't done yet, surprisingly. Ha, ya right, he never gives up.

There was no way that I could hold both of Fangs hands without getting pushed back down. I just tried to keep him from getting any plans forming in that head of his by letting him think he was going to win, and then taking that opportunity back.

He caught on to what I was trying to do, apparently, and when I loosened my grip on him, he was ready. He grabbed my hands and literally picked me up and set me down next to him.

When I tried to hold onto him with my legs, I accidentally kicked him in that forbidden place, hard.

"Sorry" I said quickly, that was one of the rules when we were wrestling, you can not knee, kick, hit, or do anything to there manly parts. I thought it was a wimps rule because when you were fighting erasers, they didn't respect boundaries, but I still abided by it.

He closed his eyes, and gritted his teeth. When he opened his eyes, I knew I was in for it. They were filled with determination, and then when he smiled, I considered running for the bathroom and locking the door. That was his 'I am going to get you… good' smile. Whenever you saw that, you knew that you were in trouble.

He opened his wings slightly and then lifted me up again. When I was standing upright, he wrapped them around me. I couldn't see anything except for his beautiful black feathers.

"Cant run now" he said, evilly.

"Neither can you" I replied, do my best to figure out how to get out of this one. He hadn't lost his evil smile yet, but I could tell that he wasn't really going to kick my butt like he used to. He was the only one who ever was able to beat me, and he knew my every technique.

I had no idea what he was going to do, but he put one arm on my hip, and one of my shoulders. I wasn't sure what he was going to do, but something told me that it wasn't good.

So I did the same thing to him, hoping to counter act whatever he was going to try.

"What, dancing?" he teased.

"I don't know, are you?" I joked back to him.

For an answer, I was pushed backwards, and his wings suddenly pulled back to his back. Crap! I was stuck here again.

Not for long, I thought. I got hit was a stroke of geniuses-ness. I unfocused my eyes and tried to look confused and make it look like I was talking to the voice.

He bought it, and loosed his grip dramatically. I knew I had only a second before he realized that I tricked him, so I arched my stomach into him, and smiled like a maniac.

He got hit in this abs, and let me tell you, it kinda hurt. As pathetic as it sounds, it hurt to hit him. But, it did the trick, and he was pushed to my side. I did my best to get on top of him, but he made sure that I kept rolling. Right off the bed…

When I hit the ground, I busted out laughing. I couldn't hold it in anymore, I just started laughing.

Catching that I wasn't hurt, he started laughing too. Not nearly as hard as I was, but it was a laugh not-the-less.

There was a sound from below us, and it sounded like someone hitting the ceiling.

That just made us laugh harder. I could not believe that Fang was laughing with me. Like, actually laughing! The sound was so… peaceful and calming.

I smiled at him, and just then I looked at the clock. It was 8:45. We were supposed to meet them 1/2 and hour ago. I jumped up, and Fang jumped up after me, thinking that I had heard something that he didn't.

When he looked around, he cocked his head to the side and raised one eyebrow. "What?" he questioned.

"We were supposed to meet them 1/2 and hour ago!" I said as I was racing for the door.

He ran after me, and when I ripped open the door, Nudge and Angel were tripping over themselves trying to get away from the door.

Nudge smiled and then said "are you going to tell me what all that laughing was about?" I was just glad that she kept her sentences short, because I couldn't deal with the Nudge channel right now.

"Nope" I said, turning and heading for the boys room so that we could go to breakfast.

"Why not? I really badly want to know! You just walk out, with your hair all messed up, and I NEED to know what happened! Please tell me, pretty pretty please? You just have to tell me." Nudge whined.

"I would… but you were listening. If you weren't, you would already know by now" I said, trying to teach them a lesson, but not be too harsh.

Fang's pov

I don't know why, but I had the sudden urge to wrestle with Max. Not in the… adult way, just like normal un-perverted wrestling.

I don't really know who won, because we both ended up on the floor laughing. I don't know why, but I have not been able to hold in my emotions as good lately. Not that I didn't want to laugh, because I did, but even if I didn't want to, I would have had to. Max was so happy when I laughed, shocked too, but I could tell that she liked it.

I made a mental note to do that more often. I heard Iggy walk up behind me, and say "Hey man, what took you so long?" in a curious tone. We both knew that he didn't have to worry about anything to bad, so I just told him what we did.

"We wrestled. Keep your mind out of the gutter, Ig" I said, knowing what he was going to say.

He smiled. "I don't know what you are talking about. Are you saying that I have a dirty mind?" he said, already knowing the answer.

"Yup."

"Hey, you want some more revenge?" he said and I looked over and saw those two guys from the night before. They were glaring at me. I just smirked at them.

"Sure do" I replied, not knowing what he was planning. When he told me, I nearly laughed out loud.

**A/N Guys, i am so so so sorry. i keep on forgetting about total, and then just saying he is depressed. sorry. i am so stupid!**

**And btw, 20 reviews for last chapter. i thank you all. **

**my next chapters may be coming out later, and when they do, they may be depressing. this and the next wont, because they are already writetn, but 13 may suck. i will try my best but to be honest, i have been way to sad to write. terrible excuse, but i cant even think his name or i cry. he is in one of my classes, he coughed and my eyes started watering. he likes one of my VERY good friends, and it hurts to think of him. so writting is hard. i am so sorry. i hope that i will be over this drama soon, but i doubt it. i have liked him for nearly a year and a half, i cant get over him in a few minutes. **

**but it will end and i will update asap. so when i feel better i will edit chappie 13 and fix the sadness. review and i may start to fell slightly better, but i doubt it. give it a try ok? thanks. **

**UPDATE 11-11-08; i am feeling much better. now i can hold off the tears untill night time, when i am by myself in the dark, and have nothing better to do then try to sleep. i have been getting about half of the sleep i normally do, and my body is not likeing me for it. oh well. anyhow, i didnt get a very good response for this chappie, is there something wrong with it? last chapter i got 20 reviews, this one i only got 13. did i mess up or something? please tell me in a review, if you havent reviewed for this cahpter already. thank you**


	12. Revenge and what date?

Revenge, and what date?

Fang's pov

"Was she really that excited?" Iggy questioned me.

"Ya, she couldn't even contain herself. She practically jumped right on me. Well, actually she did," I replied. Iggy and I were in stage one of our plan go get back at Ethan and Eric. We were making them think that Max and I did something that we didn't, but without actually saying anything.

"Woe, dude, you are one lucky guy to have her… wrestling with you," Iggy said. He wasn't lying, we did wrestle, and I did consider myself lucky. "Who was on top?" he continued.

"Most of the time me, but she did get up there a few times though," I said. Again, all truth, I did have her pinned most of the time, but she got on top once or twice.

"Dang," he said, annunciating every letter.

I just nodded at him. We were sitting in the lobby, eating breakfast and Max and the kids were playing a game.

Eric and Ethan were glaring at me by now, but I was not done yet.

"We have been together for 3 years, 6 months now, and I have never been happier. I don't we even would have… wrestled," I said wrestled in a different tone, "if it weren't for those fools last night hitting on her. She was so happy that I stuck up for her, that she just," I acted like I was going to keep going, but Iggy stopped me, right on que.

"Ok, Okay, I don't want to hear any more!" he choked out.

"Ya, last night was defiantly the best time I have had in a while," I said, just as we were passing Eric. He absolutely loathed me, I could tell. It was actually pretty funny how he thought that he was so tough, and that we could take him at five years old. Even Nudge could take him, the minute she woke up. About right then is when she can't even talk, so ya, if that helps you visualize how tired she is….

"Well look, tonight just try to make sure that Tiffany doesn't walk in on you two, even if it didn't ruin it. That probably wasn't the best sight for her, Max pinned on the bed with her arms above her head, and you right on top her. So ya, try to at least wait, even if it is hard," Iggy said. "Pun intended", making up a little as we went; but just the part about Nudge A.K.A. Tiffany walking in on the wrestling. That was probably just for the effect that he said that, we didn't plan that.

"Ya ya ya, we will wait, but when you wake up tomorrow, knock about 5 minutes before you come in…" I replied.

"Why 5 minutes?" he questioned, looking mock confused.

"She gets crazy, and when she wakes up… just wait unless you want me to way to far into detail" I replied like it was common sense. "I wouldn't mind recalling it."

We were at the stairs, and we were about to go up when I had a very funny thought. I could go and ask Eric and Ethan, couldn't I? Sure I could, and it would be great to see there reaction.

"Ig, be right back," I started, looking back over my shoulder at him. He looked confused, but shrugged and kept walking.

I turned back, and when Eric saw me walking in, he elbowed Ethan in the ribs.

They both got a very interesting look on there face. It was a mixture of

Anger/hate/ and… envy. It looked pretty funny to me.

"Do you _boys _know the date?" I asked, mocking them by annunciating the word boys. They both looked incredulously at me.

They just continued to glare at me. "What, did Max get some lipstick on me?" I asked, trying to sound truly worried. I nearly laughed at the thought of Max wearing lipstick.

"Max," Eric sighed, saying it like it was a godly name. "That is her name?" he questioned, still dazed.

"What is the date?" I asked, irritated that they were obsessing over her just because of her looks. Don't get me wrong, she is dang good looking, but they didn't even know _her _and they acted like they were in love with her.

"It's June 14. Now get the hell out of here," Ethan said, looking murderous. Ha! I was lying, fight there, he looked pathetic, and I actually felt bad for him. But not bad enough to let that rude comment slide.

"Perfect! Her birthday is tomorrow, and I know exactly what I am going to get… give her. This could be my birthday to…" I mused as I was walking away just to screw with them.

Then it hit me. They said June 14. Gazzy's birthday is on June 20! Crap. I don't think Max even knows the date.

I walked up to our room, calmly, and when I opened the door, Max was laying on the couch, staring off into space. Then she looked mildly angry. Hum.

When her eyes focused again, I wondered what was up. "Talking to the voice?" I asked.

She nodded. "It says that we should stay one more night. Is that ok with you?" she asked me, clearing it through me before she acted.

I nodded in response. "It's June 14."

"Oh, shoot, is it really?!" she looked up at me in surprise when she asked.

"Yup," I replied.

"I can't believe I forgot! It's Gazzy's birthday in less then a week!" she shouted, but not loud enough for anyone to hear in the other rooms. "What are we going to do?!" she was about to have a heart attack she felt so bad. I could tell.

"It's not your fault. When's the last time you knew the date?" I asked, trying to comfort her. She looked at me, with question in her eyes.

"How do you know the date?" she asked, getting suspicious.

"Asked," I replied not really wanting to go into detail.

"Who did you ask?" she said sternly, catching on to the fact that I was hiding something from her.

"Guys working the desk," I answered. Her face changed into a mask of suppressed laughs, and she tried to cover it by looking stern.

"Was it those guys from last night?" she asked, and I think she was getting a lot of amusement out of this.

"I think so," I said like I really didn't know.

She smiled. "As long as you didn't say just to tick them off…" she trailed off.

I just shrugged in response. "I think we should go and get these rooms for tonight too. Wanna come?" she asked, still with a hint of her evil smile on her gorgeous face.

I began walking to the door in response. I held it open for her and let her walk ahead of me. As we were walking, her hand brushed mine. I grabbed a hold of it next time it brushed along my hand.

I felt her tense, and then start to pull away. "So they won't ask questions," I said, hoping they wouldn't bring up 'wrestling'. That would be bad.

Ever so slowly, she relaxed again. Her head turned to me and she smiled at me. "Do you want to skip the rest of the way there," she questioned. Oh great, here goes the mocking I was expecting.

"Just because that is your preferred way of travel, don't mean I want to skip," I said, coming up with the best comeback that I could while keeping it friendly.

She didn't even pause before her retort. "Watch it, I could out-skip you any day!" she was joking, and her expression was comical.

"Only if you had a meadow filled with bunnies for inspiration," I replied, hoping that she wouldn't challenge that.

She sighed. "Your right." In a very falsely defeated tone. We walked in silence the rest of the way there.

When we started getting closer to the desk, Max's face changed. Max gripped my hand tighter, and she started to smile. Then she laughed.

She was still smiling when we got up to the front desk, and she turned to Eric. "Can we have the same rooms as last night for tonight too please?" Max asked, looking unintentionally cute. No, cute didn't describe it, she looked… breathtaking.

"S-s-sure you can," he said, forgetting to be a frickin' perv and instead just settling on being a stuttering idiot.

Max's eyebrows pulled together in the middle, and she looked truly confused. Did she not realize how beautiful she was? She must, she has to have looked in the mirror recently.

"How much will that cost?" Max asked in a sickly-sweet voice.

Now his eyes were drifting from her face to a place a few inches lower. I suppressed a growl.

"What did you say?" he asked, dazed.

"I said 'my eyes are up a bit higher then you are looking' and if you don't stop staring at my boobs then we are going to have a very big problem. Very big, right nick?" she turned to me with her smile that is reserved for Ter-Bortch and only Ter-Bortch. They were screwed.

I cracked my knuckles, and tried to get the calmest look I could on my face. When you look calm when you are mad, it just scares them more because they don't know what you are really thinking.

Eric forcefully removed his eyes from Max's… body. I hated it just as much as she did that he was such a pig, because I knew that he was the type of guy who gave all of us a bad reputation.

"How much for the rooms?" I said, trying to keep my suppressed rage out of my voice. I did a pretty good job, considering.

"250 dollars," he said, directing the answer to Max's chest again. His black eye was so puffy I don't even know how he could see out of it. Good.

Max reached into her back pocket and then cocked her head to the side. "Do you have my card?"

I checked my pockets. I shook my head no. "That's weird," she stated. "Where is it?" she seemed to be talking to herself.

Recognition dawned on me. "Wrestling," I realized out loud. Then I saw her eyes flicker with understanding.

Then her gorgeous eyes flicked back to Eric's form, who was staring open-mouthed at me, with his eyes filled with pure undiluted hate.

"You want me to go get it?" I asked her, not wanting to leave her alone with these guys, even if she could take care of herself perfectly fine.

"I'll get it," she said as she turned to get the card. As she left, Ethan walked up behind me.

I relaxed all of my muscles, trying to irk them more by seeming oblivious of there hospitality.

"Are you seriously going to try to fuck her in the bed that I have to clean again?" Eric asked, spitting venom.

I whirled on him, and made a show of flexing my biceps. Not to be vain, but I have pretty good muscles, fighting for all of you life does that to you.

"Do you want to say that again?" I said through gritted teeth, and with as much venom in my voice as I could possibly manage.

"Is that your plan?" he asked, backing down, and stating it much more mildly.

"For the sake of you keeping full use of your limbs, I suggest that you _never_ say that again," I said, just as fiercely.

"Yesterday was an off day for me," he replied, trying to match my tone. It didn't work, at all. I could see the lie in his eyes, yesterday he had been fighting his best and hardest and he still got his butt kicked. Sucker.

"Well then unless you would like to go again, I suggest that you never say anything like that about Max again, got it?" I snarled.

He opened his mouth to retort, just as Max walked around the corner. "I got the card."

Ethan took the card and ran it through the scanner then handed it back to her. "Bye," he said coldly.

She slowly raised her head. "That was rude."

Ethan didn't say anything; he just continued to glare at the computer. Max turned on her heal and walked away, deciding that it wasn't worth saying anything over. I remember the last time she heard someone be extremely rude, we stole his credit card. What, we had erasers right on our butts and we need to eat?!

So we were walking up the stairs when she tripped. She looked down at her feet; stunned. I was shocked too. Normally she had very good balance.

She sat down, in the middle of the stairs, and took off her shoe. Then she looked at the front of it. I saw a slight smile creep onto her face. She turned her shoe on me, and I was thoroughly confused. What is she doing?

"The front of my shoe is wearing off, and I tripped over it. We forgot to get shoes when we were at the mall," she said, trimphtley. Oh, she was wondering why she tripped. That makes sense.

I nodded to show that I was paying attention, but turned to finish going up the stairs. The stairwell was small, and I was starting to feel cluster-phobic. She was apparently feeling the same thing, so she hurried to her feet and walked up stairs quickly.

When we got to our room, she closed the door. This was normal, but then she locked it, then she latched the dead-bolt. Then she locked the slide lock.

When she turned to me, she was already talking. "I think I should just ask Gazzy what he wants for his birthday. What do you think?"

"Or take him to a restaurant," I replied; thinking about when we were in New York, and Max told him to pick a restaurant, and we got kicked out for ordering too much. Her eyes widened.

"That is a good idea," she made it sound like it was a huge surprise to her. That's insulting.

"Glad you agree," I sarcastically replied.

She rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean. Let's call them to ask," she said, walking to the phone. I really didn't need to respond, she was already doing it.

When all of the flock walked in, Max told them to sit down.

Max's pov

I told them to sit down, not realizing that this would make them think that they were in trouble. Opps.

Angel looked at me with troubled eyes before she read my mind and smiled, knowing what I was going to say.

"Hey Gazzy, how does going to a really really nice restaurant sound?" I asked, with mock interest, while I was looking down at me nails.

"Why?" he asked, tilting his head to the side, looking completely clueless.

"Because it is June 14," I replied, again acting like it was no big deal.

He smiled the biggest smile I have seen him smile in a very long time. It made me happy to see him so pleased with me.

Nudge immediately started talking. "To go we are going to have to get some really nice clothes. So let's go! And then we can get shoes and we can fill up the medical supplies because after last time," she shot me a nervous glance "we are all out. Do you think that we could go shopping today, so that tomorrow we could go to eat, because things may not go like we planned, so could we plan ahead? Sound good?" she continued rambling until a look from Iggy shut her up.

I shrugged, looking back from Gazzy to Nudge, trying to figure out if he was ok with going early for his birthday. He seemed thrilled that we were going at all, much less on time. He didn't care, so neither did I.

"Ok," I responded, after some thought. We could do that.

"It's noon" Angel said, looking out the window, rather then looking at the clock. We were used to the sun dial, so we really didn't need clocks, even if they were available. "We should leave now," She finished.

Gulp, now? Angel looked at me and smiled, she had heard that.

We began walking to go downstairs, when I noticed something. Fang was walking right next to me. Strange.

I really didn't want to go shopping, but it was for Gazzy's birthday, and he deserved to celebrate it however he wanted.

We walked past the front counter without glancing at it. When we got to the street, I realized that we had no idea where the closest mall was. So I told everyone to just fly up as high as they could, but still be able to see, and whoever found the first mall to shout to the rest of us.

Naturally it was Nudge. Almost as soon as we were off she started yelling that she had found it. So we were flying in the direction that she pointed and I just now spotted the mall. She was fast! Then again, she wanted to find it, which would be a huge advantage…

I tipped my leading feathers so that they were pointing up. That made me go down slightly, and Fang followed instantly. Nudge and Angel were already on there way down, but Iggy and Gazzy followed when we realized that we were descending.

Within five minutes we were tucking our wings into the slits in our shirts, and making sure that our hair didn't look to windswept before we walked quietly out of the ally we landed in.

Fang took his usual spot at my side, and I walked directly behind Nudge, who really wanted to lead the way. I was walking in a comfortable silence when I felt Iggys hand brush my arm. "Hey Ig."

"Hey Max, I was wondering if you planned on visiting Dr. Martinez on Gazzy's birthday. I think that we should, if not for the purpose of his birthday, so Total can see Akiela. He misses her, and I think he might be sick," Iggy said. He had been hanging out with Nudge too much. I guess when there are only 7 of us; we all spend a lot of time together, but hey.

I didn't see a store that I had ever heard of, but I figured that was ok, because that meant that they weren't all huge stores with huge prices. Then again, just because I haven't heard of them doesn't mean a whole lot…

When we walked in the door, I automatically knew that this was a fancy store. All of the workers were sweeping, mopping, straighten out the cloths on the rack, or just standing there looking pretty.

Not the erasers kind of pretty, but just… fake pretty. They all had lots of makeup on, or if they were guys, there hair was so gelled that it looked like they could spear you with it. All of them were dressed in black and blue- if they were guys- and black and pink for girls.

After a few seconds, a very pretty girl with pin straight hair walked up to us. "How may I assist you?" in a very falsely cheery voice.

"We are just looking," I replied, happy that she wasn't starring at Fang with all her eyes.

"If you need any of us, just wave and we will be there like this," and she snapped her fingers.

I nodded in thanks, and walked past her. the store was packed, but with clothes racks, not people. There were about 6 workers, and they were now all politely diverting there eyes.

I threw a quick glance at Fang, and told him- with my eyes- to keep both eyes open for anything.

He didn't even have to nod; his posture told me that he already planned on it. I turned to Nudge and was going to remind her that she could not get a skirt when I saw a very small pair of shorts. Angel saw me eyeing them with disgust, and started to explain what they were.

"They are for wearing under skirts, and dresses, so that you can't see you underwear if you fall over or something," she explained to me. Oh, that made sense, but still, they were so tight and small. Then she continued, "So can we get a skirt or dress?"

I could not deny them this little thing, but I didn't want them to, so I compromised. "If it is under $20." That seemed like a reasonable price to me.

After about and hour all of the boys were looking bored out of there mind, I was too, but Nudge and Angel were still hunting for clothes. They both had at least 3 outfits that they really liked, but they wanted the perfect one.

I was about ready to rip my hair out I wanted out of here so bad. Then my savior came. Ok, fine, not my savior, but my hairs' savior.

The lady that originally approached us came up to us again. "Would you like me to put your clothes behind the counter for when you are ready?"

I smiled a true smile that would make my arms feel SO much better. "Sure," I responded.

"Ok, I will get Peter to help you find the rest of your stuff," she said, noticing my frustration with Nudge and Angel. She smiled and walked off, staggering under the weight of all the clothes. So looked a guy in the eyes, Peter I think, and he walked over to us, with a fake smile on his face.

"Do you need help finding anything?" he asked, in a very extremely false voice. Just when I was about to say no so he would leave us alone, Nudge spoke up.

"Yes, do you have this in another color?"

"Let me check, I will be right back," he responded walking away.

A few minutes later, he came back, with a pink/ purple shirt. It was ok I guess, but I wouldn't wear it.

"Perfect!" she shouted, in a very short sentence, I was starting to worry that she may be sick….

He smiled again, but it was more real now. "Angela gave it to me, she said that it was new, and it would be 'very cute' on you," he said, putting quotations around very cute.

She grabbed it from him, and ran to go try it on. She came running back out, squealing.

"This is like, the best thing I have ever seen! It fits so good, and it is just like… amazing! Can I get it Max please, please? Pretty please? I will love you forever! Not that I don't already, but I will still love you forever, and then some please, please, please?!" she ranted.

I nodded, eager to get out of there. Then an extremely pretty Asian girl came walking out from a well hidden door in the back. She had long dark brown hair, and she had a slight smile on her face. She seemed like a generally happy person. She had another shirt in her hands too. It was smaller, made for an 8 or 9 year old rather then a 14 year old. It had a bigger bottom and smaller top. A baby doll top, I think. It was a dark pink/ purple and had white polka dots.

"I think this would be pretty good for you" as she turned to Angel. Angel's eyes widened in surprise, and I got pretty freaked out, considering that she could read her mind. I thought that maybe this girl was working for the school or something.

'NO! She has only nice thoughts. It's weird. And this shirt is so cute,' Angel thought to me. Then I understood. This girl's thoughts were unusually kind, and so Angel was just shocked.

"That shirt is cute Angel. I think you should get it," I said, so that it wouldn't look weird that she looked at me, I looked back, then a moments pause. Then she suddenly looks up, and starts squealing. Yup, that would not look at all weird. Nope… not at all. **(A/N All of the clothes are in my profile. At the very bottom, there is a link to a website. Go to the tab labeled photo album, and click on Clothes for ****Faximum Ride; accidentally in love.**** They will be in there. Thanks!)**

She read my thoughts and smiled, then jumped up and down. She hadn't even tried it on yet, and she was still excited.

After we paid, courtesy of the Max Ride card, we left, and thanked the girl one more time. Turns out, she was Angela, the same girl who gave Nudge her top. This girl was a miracle worker; she found two shirts that the pickiest people in the world liked. Wow.

We were running to take off when I realized a problem. How is this going to work? It won't.

**A/N hey guys. i am still working on getting over the guy, but i am doing much better. i can hold off the tears now, which is good... so ya, i am very sad. chapter 10 i got 20 reveiws for, and then chapter 11 i only got 14 for. did i do something wrong? i hope not, but just so you know this is my last pre-written chpater. so if you want more, you will have to reveiw. yes, all of you! please, i really need the reviews, they make me write faster and with my chapters lenght, you need me to write fast. anyhow, i have been looking for a beta, and i have found several that i liked, but none are responding. so i am kinda lost here, i dont know what to do. if you have beta'ed before and you like it, then respond please. **

**AND DOND FORGET TO REVIEW!!!!!**

**~Julie-AV~**


	13. Back for more?

Back for more?

_We were running to take off I realized when I realized a problem. How is this going to work? It won't. _

Max's pov

All of these bags were pretty heavy, along with the other clothes that we just bought; it was going to be a very heavy load to carry, especially for the younger kids, and maybe me, because my wing was just healing. How on earth were we supposed to carry these from Nevada all the way to Arizona?

Fang looked at me as I faltered in my running, and missed a step. I picked my pace back up and when I caught Fangs glance, I knew that he had not missed that. I shook my head and pressed my lips together in a way of telling him that I would tell him later, if it was important.

He just looked away, knowing that if it were something important to him or the flock, I would tell him. Jeb had been unusually quiet for a while now, when I heard another voice that had also been very rarely heard.

"These clothes are smashing me," Total grumbled. I was, in particular, shocked to hear his voice, but I think Angel was even more shocked.

"Sorry, we will be home soon," I said. His ears perked up and his expression got a new look to it; happy. "Not that home, the hotel," I said in response to his reaction, I hated to crush his hopes, but hey, someone had to do it.

"We are leaving to see Akiela tomorrow morning," Gazzy said, happily, but lying. He knew that we were only going for his birthday, and Akiela was just a benefit, but he wanted to cheer up Total, I guess.

It worked, Total got his goofy doggie grin on his face, and then he started howling. Yes, like a dog howl.

I looked at him, raising my eyebrows. "Yes, that was a doggie howl; I was too happy to bother containing it. Can I try to fly?" he asked, not even attempting to contain his joy.

I debated on whether or not to let him fly, and decided that it couldn't hurt, as long as he flew above us, so that if he fell we could catch him, and if we didn't I could fly after him. What? He had to start somewhere.

Nudge looked at me like I was crazy, maybe I was, but still, he did have to start learning somewhere so why not here, it is better then when we are being attacked, and he falls out of someone's backpack. Angel whimpered, and I knew that she didn't like that mental image either. Iggy slowly uncurled his fingers from around Total, unsure of whether or not he could do it on his own at that altitude.

Total had flown down on the ground for a minute max, not any longer, I don't think. This would be a stretch for him, no doubt.

I made sure to fly right below him, ready to catch him if he fell, and dive if necessary. He started flapping his little wings so fast that I thought he was going to lift off. Oh wait, he already did that…. You could barely see his little stub of a wing they were going so fast. He slowly rose above the rest of us, before he slowed his wings slightly and then dropped below us.

I remember when I first started to fly it was sort of hard to figure out how fast to flap my wings, now it just seemed like common knowledge, so I was shocked when Total was having the same problem.

He came back up to as high as we were, and was grinning like a fool who smoked way too many drugs. He looked at me, still ecstatic, but his face was starting to contort with pain. I reached over and grabbed him, ignoring all the squeals and shouts, as I had been for the last few minutes, and he looked up gratefully at me.

He had lasted longer then I thought he would, I didn't think he would make it over 45 seconds.

"Great job Total. You did well," I praised him.

"What no treat?" he joked, so completely thrilled that he could even joke about his being a dog. Wow, flying did him some good. Maybe I should drop him so he will fly a little more…

Angel shot me a glare, and I just smiled, showing her that I was only kidding. She smiled back, but it was tight, she didn't like that comment at all. Oops….

Total was happily sitting in Angels arms now; she had made me give him to her. Like I would really drop him, she knew better, I hope.

I flew in the lead back to the home of the pervs, the hotel. I wasn't particularly excited to go back, but I did want to go take a nice long shower. I am not very picky about how I get to bathe, as long as I can, but if I have the option of a shower or a bath, I will pick shower every time. Baths are pointless if you ask me, you didn't, but I am going to tell you why anyhow. You just soak in your own dirt mixed with water. When you have the ability to shower every day then the dirt doesn't get too bad, but when you get a few weeks in between showers, then that is sick. The water is brown in seconds.

If there is a pond or a pool or something with tons of water, then it isn't so bad, but bathtubs are small, and the dirt spreads fast. Ok, rant over; I am going to take a shower, period the end.

Angel was cracking up; she thought that my mental rant/argument was very amusing. At least she wasn't angry anymore. That was a plus.

We were almost in view of the hotel by now, my built in navigation system told me so, so we landed, and decided to walk the rest of the way.

When we walked through the doors, there were two new people working behind the desks. It was about 3 o'clock by now, so the shifts had obviously changed. The line was about 3 couples, or families, long. I was glad that we had gotten here yesterday; I wasn't sure how many rooms could be left if this many people were here. What if they got two rooms? Then it would be a very full hotel tonight.

I really didn't want to be here with this many other people, but there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it. We were leaving tomorrow so I only had to spend one day here.

When we got back to the room, Nudge reminded me of my promise; that they could get 2 movies, because I made them stop watching the last one… for obvious reasons.

I had promised them this one little thing, so I told them go right ahead. I did a dang good job of reading what they were about though, so I made sure that they were appropriate. I didn't really want to watch them, but I wasn't going to leave them either. So I just thought.

After a few minutes of thinking about what I could think about for close to 3 hours, Jeb interrupted me. _'I think you should start thinking about Fang's plan to set up traps for the erasers.' _

'Will it work?' I questioned him, not really expecting an answer.

'_That is for you to figure out on your own,' _he replied. It wasn't a straight answer, but at least it told me that he knew that I was talking to him.

'Do you know if it will be erasers, flyboys, or those army type things?' I asked, still not really anticipating a response.

'_Have faith in me Maximum, I do respond, you just don't hear me. It will be mostly erasers; they are trying, with no avail, to perfect the flyboys. The DMM or Destructive Mutant Men are very expensive to make. There may be a few of those, but they think that if they send enough erasers you will be overwhelmed, and they won't need to waste the money,' _he answered, lengthy I might add.

'Wow. Thank you, we were wondering about that,' I replied.

'_I knew that you were. All of you were putting an honest effort into it, and you couldn't get it. I was going to tell you sooner but I don't want you to depend on me,' _Jeb thought back, and I am almost positive that he said that with feeling in that last sentence.

'Why not?' I asked, hoping to God that he wasn't going to betray us again.

No response. That's more like it, I thought, he was being too helpful. He just left me with something to ponder, and now I will be thinking about that for a while.

Just then I was jolted out of my own little world by a clapping, and I looked around, clearing my eyes of the fogginess that came with talking to the Voice.

"Um I am going to sleep now, Total is tired. And so am I," Angel said.

"You know I can talk for myself?" Total replied, with some of his previous spunk it his voice.

"Oh, well then I am coming to. Angel wait up! Did you like the movie? What about you Total, did you like it? I didn't like the pig, but hey, it was Disney what do you expect? Do you guys remember when we went to Disney world? That was so cool! Until Ari had to show up and screw every thing up. Did you like it? I thought," Nudges voice became in-auditable as she got farther away.

Gazzy yawned, and I just then realized that both movies were over. I must have talked with the voice for a long time. "Iggy, I'm going to sleep. You coming?" Gazzy asked, stretching and getting off the couch.

"Ya, I'll be there in a minute," Iggy replied. Then he turned to face me. "Hey Max, are you ok?"

"Ya. He basically said that there would be mostly erasers for the ambush plan, and that they were attempting to perfect the flyboys. They aren't doing so great there, and that the DMM are too expensive to make, so there wont be many of them there," I finished.

Fang looked at me like 'DMM, what the heck it that?' I realized that we didn't have a name for them before, so this was new.

"DMM, destructive mutant men, the ones with laser eyes," I clarified.

Then they understood. "That's what's with the erasers again." Fang stated, like he was just now getting something important… and he was. This problem had been occupying a lot of our time lately.

I nodded, and they seemed to understand that this was good, but not that they were still working on the flyboys; I wish they would just give up on experimenting. Ha, ya right, that is not my luck.

"We should… or I mean you guys should look for good places to start this thing at when we are at the Martinez's. I don't think they will mind," Iggy said, thinking hard.

"Yeah, we should. I think we should do it somewhere in the mountains. They would think that we would wait on the peaks, because of the better vision, but if we go in the valley, then they wont be expecting us. What do you think?" I asked, thinking out loud, and then tacking on a question so that it would be a group type thing.

Fang nodded, but you could tell he was still thinking out the pros and cons of both situations.

Iggy clapped his hands onto his thighs then, standing up, said, "Well I'll see you in the morning, I'm tired."

As he walked out, I realized that I was pretty tired to. "I'm pretty whipped to, see you in the morning," I said, walking awkwardly away, attempting to ignore the fact that I could feel his eyes on my back.

I walked into the bathroom, peed, brushed my teeth, washed my face with the complementary soap with the hotel logo on it, and then walked back out into the main room.

When I walked out, he was sitting on the bed, staring at the blank TV. I sat down, trying to lay as far from possible from him on the bed. He didn't bother; he just lay in the middle and sprawled out on the whole bed. I knew this wasn't what he normally did when he slept, but who cares how he sleeps? I certainly don't….

I scooted over to give him more room, and ended up scooting right off of the bed.

It took me a second to comprehend what happened, but when I did, I started to quietly laugh. When stuff like this happens, what else can you do? Nothing but laugh.

That made Fang realized that I was ok; so he started to laugh too. When I sat up, and lifted myself back up onto the bed, I noticed that he was back lying on his stomach, like normal. I wonder why he felt the urge to take up the whole bed to begin with….

Because he was on his own side this time, I scooted more towards his side, but still on my half of the bed. We didn't divide it up by duct tape or anything, but I just drew an imaginary line, and was going by that.

Suddenly I realized something. "Fang we forgot to stack fists."

He sat up to, and immediately stuck out his hand and formed a fist with it. I put mine on top of his, and "G-night."

He nodded at me, and then lay down. For some reason this didn't seem right, here I was being all diplomatic, on my side of the bed, while he just lay down, and stayed where he landed. So I scooted over to where I would have been if I had just jumped on the bed.

Before I was in the middle, I had to stop. His back was pressed against mine, but I was still on my side. So I started to push on him.

He got the hint and began to push back. We were both being 100% silent, but I could almost feel that he was grinning. He was pushing harder then me, and I was loosing ground.

I quickly slid my feet sideways so that they were up against the nightstand, which was up against the wall. I used my legs for leverage, and pushed with all my might. No, I didn't, because if I did the wood would have gotten pushed into the wall, which would be hard to explain…

Fang started getting pushed back to his side of the bed, and he wasn't having that. He followed my lead, but put his feet against the wall. His legs were longer so it wasn't that much of a stretch, and the bed was closer to the wall.

Within a moment, we were engaged in a full out pushing war. Neither were winning, he couldn't gain any more room, because his legs only reached so far, but he was not going to let me push him even an inch.

After a few more minutes, which felt like hours, I was so exhausted, and this wasn't helping any, I decided to break the silence I sighed dramatically and then, just to make it even better said, "You may as well give it up now, 'cause we both know who is going to win this one."

He chuckled a mischievous little chuckle, and then I was falling, falling in the direction that I was trying to go in just a matter of seconds ago. He had slackened the muscles in his legs, and jumped out of the way before I even knew what was happening, so I had pushed myself right onto the floor.

I didn't see where he went, but I knew that he had better hide. He was never going to let me live this down, so I wasn't going to let him live down the fact that he got beat up by a girl. I don't understand why that is such a big deal. I mean, sure guys build muscle easier then girls do, but girl just have the skill to take a guy down. And I work for all my muscle, and even though Fang was stronger, I think if I really tried, I could make him eat dirt.

I jumped over the bed, and flipped on the light switch. 'Where is he?' I thought.

When I didn't see him, I dropped to my knees, and checked under his bed. Underneath, was solid wood. Ok, he's not under there. I could hear him breathing, not in the creepy stalker kind of way, just his 'I am going to sneak up behind you, breath on the back of you neck, and tick you off' kind of way. Joy.

I whipped my head around, so that I would catch him behind me smirking. He wasn't there. I was getting paranoid, where could he have gone?

Suddenly, I saw him. He was doubled over, and clutching his stomach. We were playing, then he's gone, then he here… and laughing?! What? How…?

He must have seen the confusion on my face, because he began to smile and then said his voice even as ever, "I've been working on my power. Now I can move if I concentrate hard."

I was shocked. He had just seen me standing there, then spinning in circles, and looking for him, and he didn't even say anything? He seemed to notice my expression, because he softened his face dramatically.

"I didn't mean to. I was looking for where to hide," he quietly whispered, looking at me from beneath his beautiful eyelashes that cover up his gorgeous chocolate brown eyes. I was going to _try_ to be mad at him, or at least pretend to be, but the thought of his eyes made me forget about that thought. Now I was too absorbed in them to even run if Ter Bortch came at me with a syringe. Ok, maybe not quite that absorbed, but close to it.

He broke my trace; his expression was so altered now that it was nearly comical to see on his face. His chin was poked out, his eyebrows pulled together by an invisibly string, and his eyes looked so confused.

I cleared my expression as much as I could, but I could not break myself out of this stupid trance I was in. he still was looking at me, expecting for me to grow wings… -oh wait, I already did that, ok grow more wings- it looked like from his expression.

"The Voice was talking to me," I quickly made up so I would seem like a lunatic. It is pretty bad when you say that a voice in your head it talking to you, just so you don't have to say the real reason, and you think the voice thing is more normal.

"What'd he say?" Fang asked, obviously not believing me. Great.

"Umm, Goodnight?" I accidentally made it sound like a question, and tried to hold back the smile. That was the lamest excuse I have ever used.

"I bet he did…," Fang trailed off, smiling slightly at me. I grinned back at him in a way of telling him that I wasn't going to tell him the real reason. His eyes were still curious, but he wasn't going to force an answer out of me.

I realized that I was chilly, so I sat down on the bed, and scooted my butt up so I could get under the covers. Before when we were laying down, I didn't get under the covers, so they were still tucked in, and fresh. I liked the feeling of nice clean sheets and nice crisp blankets, it is so refreshing. Of course, I don't get to feel this that often, but when I do, I savor it.

He thought that that meant that I was tired, but in truth, I was just cold. He crawled under the covers to, and then broke the peaceful silence, "should' a saw your face when you didn't see me."

I flicked off the light switch, which was right by the bedside table, and ignored his comment… or tried to. I wonder what my face did look like…

He turned to me, and I instantly felt awkward. I was lying on a bed, with my best friend who just happened to be a guy, with the lights off, and he was facing me, with his head propped up on his hand looking incredibly cute. Jeb had of course given us 'the talk' so I knew all about _that _and what he left out, I learned at school in Virginia from all the perverts in the hallway. Some of them could even pass up Iggy in the pervert-ness scale. That is pretty bad…

I really didn't want a replay of last night. Well fine, I did, but I didn't. It was hard to explain, I just really liked it, but I didn't want to get all stressed out over it. I remember when I saw my mom a while ago, and she warned me that physical pain was not the only kind out there. I knew what she meant, and I have heard of a broken heart, I don't want to deal with that. When I saw Fang kissing Lissa, I was ready to die; my heart felt like it was torn into about 1,000 pieces. Not a good feeling, and I don't want to see if I can hurt myself more. It would have been worse it I had been with Fang then, I think I would have died. If I just stay away from him, then I won't have to go through that again. That would be good.

He was still looking at me, but I was pretending to be tired, I just laid my head down and tried to relax my muscles. It was weird, I was so tired half an hour ago, but now I was pretty much wide awake.

Great, we had a long flight and I wasn't going to be able so sleep very well. As I was lying there, attempting to fall asleep, I think I heard Fang sigh.

Fang's pov

We were just starting to get past all of this, I thought. Now she was avoiding my eye as she lay down, and then she rolled over pretending to sleep. What did I do? I didn't try to kiss her, even though I wanted to, I didn't. I left her alone, and just talked and joked with her. What is wrong with me? Now she was trying to avoid me, and didn't want anything to do with me?

I sighed in frustration and apparently Max decided to stop pretending to be asleep.

She rolled over to face me. "What's wrong?" she asked, sounding like she cared.

I just shook my head in the darkness. A normal person wouldn't have seen it, but Max did. "Don't lie to me Fang," she retorted to my unspoken reply.

I almost smiled at her voice, it sounded so… cute. When she is mad, she has the most amazing voice I have ever heard. "I just can't sleep," I said, hoping that because it was dark she wouldn't be able to read me like she normally could.

I knew that didn't work for her, she sat up, and looked down at me, trying to force me into telling her the truth. It didn't work. I propped myself up on my elbows, hinting that I wasn't going to back down on this one.

She apparently saw something that told her that I was not going to tell her anything, so she dropped it.

I lay back down, and she followed my lead, apparently just wanting to get some sleep, so we could get out of here tomorrow bright and early. I knew that she was frustrated at me, because I didn't tell here what was wrong, but I wasn't ready to tell her that, not now, not ever.

As soon as her breathing evened out, which was pretty fast for her, I allowed myself to fall asleep. I took one last glance at the clock before I drifted off. It said 11:27.

____________________8 ½ hours later_______________________________

Max's pov

I woke up a few minutes ago, fully rested. Now I was just lying here, not knowing if I would get another chance. I was wrapped up in Fangs arms, and we were- unknowingly on his part- cuddling. I know, it was scary to wake up like this, but over night I had realized something.

I am going to die someday. I know, you all are thinking 'wow, you are one smart birdie, you just figured out the circle of life!'

You already knew this, but even though I have always been faced with that possibility, from when I wake up to when I go to sleep, I never accepted the idea before. I always knew that I had to get out of it, whatever 'it' was, if only for my flock I had to. It never occurred to me that I may just die, like from a natural disease or something like that. If an eraser didn't kill me, then the expiration date eventually would. I had always thought this, but now I am beginning to wonder. What if, what if I make it to be 20 years old? What will I do?

So over night, I realized that I may as well live life to the fullest. If I die in a fight, I am taking you and any other enemy with me, and I am told by Iggy that I have two weeks, then those are going to be the best dang two weeks of my life. But I don't think I will get a two weeks notice, so I may as well assume that my two weeks starts today.

Anyhow, this is the best possible thing that I could be doing right now, laying in Fang's arms, so I just went with the flow, like I had been advised to do for a very long time now….

I happily laid there for a few more minutes before I decided to 'wake up and stretch'. I groaned, and 'accidentally' hit Fangs leg with mine.

He jerked awake, and swung his feet of the bed, before jumping into position. He was ready to fight at; I looked at the clock, 8:12 in the morning?! How, unless I saw the erasers, I would still be in bed if he woke up like I did…

He turned to look at me, and I saw bewilderment in his eyes. He seemed to have been awake enough to feel me pressed up against him, I nearly blushed at the thought, and he didn't know it was me, as I hadn't known it was him when I first woke up.

When he jumped up, so did I, trying not to laugh at his expression when he saw that we had been so close. He, of course, saw right through me though. When he looked up at me, with his expression completely calm, he saw me, and smirked in response to what he saw. I looked at him like he was crazy trying to hide the fact that he was most likely right in whatever he was thinking.

I just lowered my eyebrows in a mocking manner, and walked to the bathroom. I decided to make use of the shower one last time before we left, and I hopped in the shower. I don't know if I have ever told you guys this, but I don't shave. I don't really need to, remember when you were little and you had blond invisible hair on your arms? I don't even have that. I haven't ever questioned it really, but I assume it is because of the bird in us, we are not fully mammal, so we aren't covered in hair like all of you are. Ha! Anyhow, sorry about that, I just had to get that out there, and if you are going to be honest with me, you have laughed at me more then a few times.

When I got out, I got dressed, and towel dried my hair so that it would take less time to air dry.

When I got out, Fang looked at me, and followed my example getting in the shower too. About 5 minutes into his shower, there was a knock on the door. I looked out the peep hole, expecting Nudge to be there wanting to get breakfast. Instead it was Eric, with a tray of food. I opened the door; just for show, peeked out, then slammed it shut, hoping he would take the hint. He didn't, he just knocked again.

"Max, whose there?" Fang shouted from the bathroom, and I heard the water off.

"That guy from a few nights ago," I respond, carefully leaving out his name, which night it was, and all other things that may give him an idea that he had left a lasting impression on me, also making sure to yell louder then needed so he would hear me loud and clear. The knocking hesitated for a second, then picked up in pace and loudness.

I ripped open the door, in deliberate anger, and fixed my face into a mask of annoyance.

"I have brought you breakfast my darling," Eric said, looking at me like he expected praise or something. He wasn't getting any from me now, or any time soon. He may get a kick in the face but that is about it.

Suddenly the bathroom door swung open, to reveal a dripping wet, wrapped in a towel Fang. I did my best not to stare, that would be rude. I am sure my eyes bugged out of my head when I saw him though, because he was even more built then a few days ago. How did that happen? The only imperfection on him was the 5-6 inch scar running across his side. I remembered only to well where that scar came from. That was from when Ari attacked him, that morning on the beach. The morning when I first kissed him and he had had a split lip, so it hurt him…

Fang smirked first at my expression, and then his smirk only grew more evil when he saw Eric. For the first time I looked at what he was smirking at. Eric looked terrible. His nose had gauze stuffed up it, and he had a black eye, fat lip and his hand was wrapped up in an ace bandage. Pussy.

Fang had done that in a few swings, and nothing more. And this guy was back for more? How many times was he dropped on his head as a kid?

"I'm not hungry," I replied, icily enough that I was sure glaciers would start forming. He jutted out his bottom lip, and pouting at me. It was pathetic.

"Defiantly not after seeing that," I said, referring to the look on his face. Fang was staring intently at Eric's un-blackened eye. I could tell he was resisting the urge to laugh.

Eric looked like his puppy had been ran over by a car and his best friend had been under the tires too.

"Are you sure?" Eric asked, sounding defeated, like he already knew the answer. I nodded vigorously thinking that he may finally give it up. "Then I will wait until you are hungry," he said, clicking back to his arrogant self again.

"Good luck with that," and I slammed the door in his face, I swear it must have hit his nose, if only it was a revolving door…

Fang looked at me with a questioning glance. I knew we needed to get out of here, but he was right outside of the door. What the heck am I supposed to do?

"Call Iggy," Fang said, looking like that was a brilliant plan.

"And…," I wasn't sure what he meant.

"He can release Gazzy," Fang replied, holding back a laugh and acting like it was not big deal. I thought it was a brilliant plan personally, but he just shrugged at my response to that, Fang… always the modest one. Not.

I grinned and picked up the phone, and hit nine, then their room number. After a ring or two, Iggy picked up and said "yellow," with a southern accent. He knew it was me, from the caller id, so I didn't bother introducing myself, I just said,

"Could you and Gazzy come outside of our door, and have Gazzy pretend its Christmas, and give the people outside lots of gifts?" I already knew he would agree, but I wanted to see the outcome.

"Sure?" Iggys said confused, but he told Gazzy, who whopped when he heard the plan, and said "I'll be right there."

About 2 minutes later, I heard Nudge, Angel, Gazzy, and Iggy's voices coming down the hallway. Then it went silent, for a second.

"What are you doing here?" Iggy asked, realizing why we wanted Gazzy to make believe that it was Christmas.

There was no response; the only noise that could be heard was a slight, insignificant, wind type noise. That _insignificant_ noise I previously mentioned was the noise of Gazzy's fart. It was not insignificant.

Within seconds, there was a very high pitched scream that did not resemble the flocks at all.

When I opened the door, a few minutes later, armed with Febreeze, I noticed that the flock was laughing, and pointing at a corner that you couldn't see around.

In my mind I got the explanation that I wanted_. 'That was Eric, and he flipped when Gazzy farted!' _Angel projected into my mind. I snorted out a laugh too, and Fang looked at me like I was crazy. Maybe I was… but soon after he smiled for a second and I think that Angel told him what happened, but with him it is hard to tell what is going on up there.

We walked out of that hallway, to the direction that Nudge was pointing when we came out of the room, and that lead to the lobby. We got downstairs, and saw Eric, as soon as our eyes connected; he ducked down, and didn't come back up as we returned out keys to Ethan.

We walked out the doors, and walked down the street, talking casually, hoping not to draw attention. When we reached the town border, we unfurled out wings, after making sure that no one was watching or near (thanks Angel!) and took off.

Now for the 8 hour flight there…

**A/N Oh my gosh! i am so sorry that this took so long! i feel so so so so so so bad! i got a new beta and i was waiting for her to send the new chapter back to me for a week. Last night i gave up on that beta and got a new one. She is amazing and had the chapter back to me in an hour or so. so thank you to Miz636! She is the best ever!**

**and please review, becasue you are going to want the next chapter pretty badly. there is a big thing happening then. and just... nevermind just review and the next chpater will be out on Thursday the 4th. So if you want it, then you better review or i may not give you the chpater! thank you!**

**and please forgive me for takeing so long to update. sorry!**


	14. Back for more2?

**SAME AS CHAPTER 13 BUT IT WOULDNT TELL YOU GUYS THAT I UPDATED THE REAL CHAPTER 13 IF I DIDNT DO THIS SO THIS IS THE EXACT SAME THING AS CHAPTER 13. REVEIW IF YOU DIDNT FOR THE LAST CHAPTER. THANK YOU!**

Back for more?

_We were running to take off I realized when I realized a problem. How is this going to work? It won't. _

Max's pov

All of these bags were pretty heavy, along with the other clothes that we just bought; it was going to be a very heavy load to carry, especially for the younger kids, and maybe me, because my wing was just healing. How on earth were we supposed to carry these from Nevada all the way to Arizona?

Fang looked at me as I faltered in my running, and missed a step. I picked my pace back up and when I caught Fangs glance, I knew that he had not missed that. I shook my head and pressed my lips together in a way of telling him that I would tell him later, if it was important.

He just looked away, knowing that if it were something important to him or the flock, I would tell him. Jeb had been unusually quiet for a while now, when I heard another voice that had also been very rarely heard.

"These clothes are smashing me," Total grumbled. I was, in particular, shocked to hear his voice, but I think Angel was even more shocked.

"Sorry, we will be home soon," I said. His ears perked up and his expression got a new look to it; happy. "Not that home, the hotel," I said in response to his reaction, I hated to crush his hopes, but hey, someone had to do it.

"We are leaving to see Akiela tomorrow morning," Gazzy said, happily, but lying. He knew that we were only going for his birthday, and Akiela was just a benefit, but he wanted to cheer up Total, I guess.

It worked, Total got his goofy doggie grin on his face, and then he started howling. Yes, like a dog howl.

I looked at him, raising my eyebrows. "Yes, that was a doggie howl; I was too happy to bother containing it. Can I try to fly?" he asked, not even attempting to contain his joy.

I debated on whether or not to let him fly, and decided that it couldn't hurt, as long as he flew above us, so that if he fell we could catch him, and if we didn't I could fly after him. What? He had to start somewhere.

Nudge looked at me like I was crazy, maybe I was, but still, he did have to start learning somewhere so why not here, it is better then when we are being attacked, and he falls out of someone's backpack. Angel whimpered, and I knew that she didn't like that mental image either. Iggy slowly uncurled his fingers from around Total, unsure of whether or not he could do it on his own at that altitude.

Total had flown down on the ground for a minute max, not any longer, I don't think. This would be a stretch for him, no doubt.

I made sure to fly right below him, ready to catch him if he fell, and dive if necessary. He started flapping his little wings so fast that I thought he was going to lift off. Oh wait, he already did that…. You could barely see his little stub of a wing they were going so fast. He slowly rose above the rest of us, before he slowed his wings slightly and then dropped below us.

I remember when I first started to fly it was sort of hard to figure out how fast to flap my wings, now it just seemed like common knowledge, so I was shocked when Total was having the same problem.

He came back up to as high as we were, and was grinning like a fool who smoked way too many drugs. He looked at me, still ecstatic, but his face was starting to contort with pain. I reached over and grabbed him, ignoring all the squeals and shouts, as I had been for the last few minutes, and he looked up gratefully at me.

He had lasted longer then I thought he would, I didn't think he would make it over 45 seconds.

"Great job Total. You did well," I praised him.

"What no treat?" he joked, so completely thrilled that he could even joke about his being a dog. Wow, flying did him some good. Maybe I should drop him so he will fly a little more…

Angel shot me a glare, and I just smiled, showing her that I was only kidding. She smiled back, but it was tight, she didn't like that comment at all. Oops….

Total was happily sitting in Angels arms now; she had made me give him to her. Like I would really drop him, she knew better, I hope.

I flew in the lead back to the home of the pervs, the hotel. I wasn't particularly excited to go back, but I did want to go take a nice long shower. I am not very picky about how I get to bathe, as long as I can, but if I have the option of a shower or a bath, I will pick shower every time. Baths are pointless if you ask me, you didn't, but I am going to tell you why anyhow. You just soak in your own dirt mixed with water. When you have the ability to shower every day then the dirt doesn't get too bad, but when you get a few weeks in between showers, then that is sick. The water is brown in seconds.

If there is a pond or a pool or something with tons of water, then it isn't so bad, but bathtubs are small, and the dirt spreads fast. Ok, rant over; I am going to take a shower, period the end.

Angel was cracking up; she thought that my mental rant/argument was very amusing. At least she wasn't angry anymore. That was a plus.

We were almost in view of the hotel by now, my built in navigation system told me so, so we landed, and decided to walk the rest of the way.

When we walked through the doors, there were two new people working behind the desks. It was about 3 o'clock by now, so the shifts had obviously changed. The line was about 3 couples, or families, long. I was glad that we had gotten here yesterday; I wasn't sure how many rooms could be left if this many people were here. What if they got two rooms? Then it would be a very full hotel tonight.

I really didn't want to be here with this many other people, but there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it. We were leaving tomorrow so I only had to spend one day here.

When we got back to the room, Nudge reminded me of my promise; that they could get 2 movies, because I made them stop watching the last one… for obvious reasons.

I had promised them this one little thing, so I told them go right ahead. I did a dang good job of reading what they were about though, so I made sure that they were appropriate. I didn't really want to watch them, but I wasn't going to leave them either. So I just thought.

After a few minutes of thinking about what I could think about for close to 3 hours, Jeb interrupted me. _'I think you should start thinking about Fang's plan to set up traps for the erasers.' _

'Will it work?' I questioned him, not really expecting an answer.

'_That is for you to figure out on your own,' _he replied. It wasn't a straight answer, but at least it told me that he knew that I was talking to him.

'Do you know if it will be erasers, flyboys, or those army type things?' I asked, still not really anticipating a response.

'_Have faith in me Maximum, I do respond, you just don't hear me. It will be mostly erasers; they are trying, with no avail, to perfect the flyboys. The DMM or Destructive Mutant Men are very expensive to make. There may be a few of those, but they think that if they send enough erasers you will be overwhelmed, and they won't need to waste the money,' _he answered, lengthy I might add.

'Wow. Thank you, we were wondering about that,' I replied.

'_I knew that you were. All of you were putting an honest effort into it, and you couldn't get it. I was going to tell you sooner but I don't want you to depend on me,' _Jeb thought back, and I am almost positive that he said that with feeling in that last sentence.

'Why not?' I asked, hoping to God that he wasn't going to betray us again.

No response. That's more like it, I thought, he was being too helpful. He just left me with something to ponder, and now I will be thinking about that for a while.

Just then I was jolted out of my own little world by a clapping, and I looked around, clearing my eyes of the fogginess that came with talking to the Voice.

"Um I am going to sleep now, Total is tired. And so am I," Angel said.

"You know I can talk for myself?" Total replied, with some of his previous spunk it his voice.

"Oh, well then I am coming to. Angel wait up! Did you like the movie? What about you Total, did you like it? I didn't like the pig, but hey, it was Disney what do you expect? Do you guys remember when we went to Disney world? That was so cool! Until Ari had to show up and screw every thing up. Did you like it? I thought," Nudges voice became in-auditable as she got farther away.

Gazzy yawned, and I just then realized that both movies were over. I must have talked with the voice for a long time. "Iggy, I'm going to sleep. You coming?" Gazzy asked, stretching and getting off the couch.

"Ya, I'll be there in a minute," Iggy replied. Then he turned to face me. "Hey Max, are you ok?"

"Ya. He basically said that there would be mostly erasers for the ambush plan, and that they were attempting to perfect the flyboys. They aren't doing so great there, and that the DMM are too expensive to make, so there wont be many of them there," I finished.

Fang looked at me like 'DMM, what the heck it that?' I realized that we didn't have a name for them before, so this was new.

"DMM, destructive mutant men, the ones with laser eyes," I clarified.

Then they understood. "That's what's with the erasers again." Fang stated, like he was just now getting something important… and he was. This problem had been occupying a lot of our time lately.

I nodded, and they seemed to understand that this was good, but not that they were still working on the flyboys; I wish they would just give up on experimenting. Ha, ya right, that is not my luck.

"We should… or I mean you guys should look for good places to start this thing at when we are at the Martinez's. I don't think they will mind," Iggy said, thinking hard.

"Yeah, we should. I think we should do it somewhere in the mountains. They would think that we would wait on the peaks, because of the better vision, but if we go in the valley, then they wont be expecting us. What do you think?" I asked, thinking out loud, and then tacking on a question so that it would be a group type thing.

Fang nodded, but you could tell he was still thinking out the pros and cons of both situations.

Iggy clapped his hands onto his thighs then, standing up, said, "Well I'll see you in the morning, I'm tired."

As he walked out, I realized that I was pretty tired to. "I'm pretty whipped to, see you in the morning," I said, walking awkwardly away, attempting to ignore the fact that I could feel his eyes on my back.

I walked into the bathroom, peed, brushed my teeth, washed my face with the complementary soap with the hotel logo on it, and then walked back out into the main room.

When I walked out, he was sitting on the bed, staring at the blank TV. I sat down, trying to lay as far from possible from him on the bed. He didn't bother; he just lay in the middle and sprawled out on the whole bed. I knew this wasn't what he normally did when he slept, but who cares how he sleeps? I certainly don't….

I scooted over to give him more room, and ended up scooting right off of the bed.

It took me a second to comprehend what happened, but when I did, I started to quietly laugh. When stuff like this happens, what else can you do? Nothing but laugh.

That made Fang realized that I was ok; so he started to laugh too. When I sat up, and lifted myself back up onto the bed, I noticed that he was back lying on his stomach, like normal. I wonder why he felt the urge to take up the whole bed to begin with….

Because he was on his own side this time, I scooted more towards his side, but still on my half of the bed. We didn't divide it up by duct tape or anything, but I just drew an imaginary line, and was going by that.

Suddenly I realized something. "Fang we forgot to stack fists."

He sat up to, and immediately stuck out his hand and formed a fist with it. I put mine on top of his, and "G-night."

He nodded at me, and then lay down. For some reason this didn't seem right, here I was being all diplomatic, on my side of the bed, while he just lay down, and stayed where he landed. So I scooted over to where I would have been if I had just jumped on the bed.

Before I was in the middle, I had to stop. His back was pressed against mine, but I was still on my side. So I started to push on him.

He got the hint and began to push back. We were both being 100% silent, but I could almost feel that he was grinning. He was pushing harder then me, and I was loosing ground.

I quickly slid my feet sideways so that they were up against the nightstand, which was up against the wall. I used my legs for leverage, and pushed with all my might. No, I didn't, because if I did the wood would have gotten pushed into the wall, which would be hard to explain…

Fang started getting pushed back to his side of the bed, and he wasn't having that. He followed my lead, but put his feet against the wall. His legs were longer so it wasn't that much of a stretch, and the bed was closer to the wall.

Within a moment, we were engaged in a full out pushing war. Neither were winning, he couldn't gain any more room, because his legs only reached so far, but he was not going to let me push him even an inch.

After a few more minutes, which felt like hours, I was so exhausted, and this wasn't helping any, I decided to break the silence I sighed dramatically and then, just to make it even better said, "You may as well give it up now, 'cause we both know who is going to win this one."

He chuckled a mischievous little chuckle, and then I was falling, falling in the direction that I was trying to go in just a matter of seconds ago. He had slackened the muscles in his legs, and jumped out of the way before I even knew what was happening, so I had pushed myself right onto the floor.

I didn't see where he went, but I knew that he had better hide. He was never going to let me live this down, so I wasn't going to let him live down the fact that he got beat up by a girl. I don't understand why that is such a big deal. I mean, sure guys build muscle easier then girls do, but girl just have the skill to take a guy down. And I work for all my muscle, and even though Fang was stronger, I think if I really tried, I could make him eat dirt.

I jumped over the bed, and flipped on the light switch. 'Where is he?' I thought.

When I didn't see him, I dropped to my knees, and checked under his bed. Underneath, was solid wood. Ok, he's not under there. I could hear him breathing, not in the creepy stalker kind of way, just his 'I am going to sneak up behind you, breath on the back of you neck, and tick you off' kind of way. Joy.

I whipped my head around, so that I would catch him behind me smirking. He wasn't there. I was getting paranoid, where could he have gone?

Suddenly, I saw him. He was doubled over, and clutching his stomach. We were playing, then he's gone, then he here… and laughing?! What? How…?

He must have seen the confusion on my face, because he began to smile and then said his voice even as ever, "I've been working on my power. Now I can move if I concentrate hard."

I was shocked. He had just seen me standing there, then spinning in circles, and looking for him, and he didn't even say anything? He seemed to notice my expression, because he softened his face dramatically.

"I didn't mean to. I was looking for where to hide," he quietly whispered, looking at me from beneath his beautiful eyelashes that cover up his gorgeous chocolate brown eyes. I was going to _try_ to be mad at him, or at least pretend to be, but the thought of his eyes made me forget about that thought. Now I was too absorbed in them to even run if Ter Bortch came at me with a syringe. Ok, maybe not quite that absorbed, but close to it.

He broke my trace; his expression was so altered now that it was nearly comical to see on his face. His chin was poked out, his eyebrows pulled together by an invisibly string, and his eyes looked so confused.

I cleared my expression as much as I could, but I could not break myself out of this stupid trance I was in. he still was looking at me, expecting for me to grow wings… -oh wait, I already did that, ok grow more wings- it looked like from his expression.

"The Voice was talking to me," I quickly made up so I would seem like a lunatic. It is pretty bad when you say that a voice in your head it talking to you, just so you don't have to say the real reason, and you think the voice thing is more normal.

"What'd he say?" Fang asked, obviously not believing me. Great.

"Umm, Goodnight?" I accidentally made it sound like a question, and tried to hold back the smile. That was the lamest excuse I have ever used.

"I bet he did…," Fang trailed off, smiling slightly at me. I grinned back at him in a way of telling him that I wasn't going to tell him the real reason. His eyes were still curious, but he wasn't going to force an answer out of me.

I realized that I was chilly, so I sat down on the bed, and scooted my butt up so I could get under the covers. Before when we were laying down, I didn't get under the covers, so they were still tucked in, and fresh. I liked the feeling of nice clean sheets and nice crisp blankets, it is so refreshing. Of course, I don't get to feel this that often, but when I do, I savor it.

He thought that that meant that I was tired, but in truth, I was just cold. He crawled under the covers to, and then broke the peaceful silence, "should' a saw your face when you didn't see me."

I flicked off the light switch, which was right by the bedside table, and ignored his comment… or tried to. I wonder what my face did look like…

He turned to me, and I instantly felt awkward. I was lying on a bed, with my best friend who just happened to be a guy, with the lights off, and he was facing me, with his head propped up on his hand looking incredibly cute. Jeb had of course given us 'the talk' so I knew all about _that _and what he left out, I learned at school in Virginia from all the perverts in the hallway. Some of them could even pass up Iggy in the pervert-ness scale. That is pretty bad…

I really didn't want a replay of last night. Well fine, I did, but I didn't. It was hard to explain, I just really liked it, but I didn't want to get all stressed out over it. I remember when I saw my mom a while ago, and she warned me that physical pain was not the only kind out there. I knew what she meant, and I have heard of a broken heart, I don't want to deal with that. When I saw Fang kissing Lissa, I was ready to die; my heart felt like it was torn into about 1,000 pieces. Not a good feeling, and I don't want to see if I can hurt myself more. It would have been worse it I had been with Fang then, I think I would have died. If I just stay away from him, then I won't have to go through that again. That would be good.

He was still looking at me, but I was pretending to be tired, I just laid my head down and tried to relax my muscles. It was weird, I was so tired half an hour ago, but now I was pretty much wide awake.

Great, we had a long flight and I wasn't going to be able so sleep very well. As I was lying there, attempting to fall asleep, I think I heard Fang sigh.

Fang's pov

We were just starting to get past all of this, I thought. Now she was avoiding my eye as she lay down, and then she rolled over pretending to sleep. What did I do? I didn't try to kiss her, even though I wanted to, I didn't. I left her alone, and just talked and joked with her. What is wrong with me? Now she was trying to avoid me, and didn't want anything to do with me?

I sighed in frustration and apparently Max decided to stop pretending to be asleep.

She rolled over to face me. "What's wrong?" she asked, sounding like she cared.

I just shook my head in the darkness. A normal person wouldn't have seen it, but Max did. "Don't lie to me Fang," she retorted to my unspoken reply.

I almost smiled at her voice, it sounded so… cute. When she is mad, she has the most amazing voice I have ever heard. "I just can't sleep," I said, hoping that because it was dark she wouldn't be able to read me like she normally could.

I knew that didn't work for her, she sat up, and looked down at me, trying to force me into telling her the truth. It didn't work. I propped myself up on my elbows, hinting that I wasn't going to back down on this one.

She apparently saw something that told her that I was not going to tell her anything, so she dropped it.

I lay back down, and she followed my lead, apparently just wanting to get some sleep, so we could get out of here tomorrow bright and early. I knew that she was frustrated at me, because I didn't tell here what was wrong, but I wasn't ready to tell her that, not now, not ever.

As soon as her breathing evened out, which was pretty fast for her, I allowed myself to fall asleep. I took one last glance at the clock before I drifted off. It said 11:27.

____________________8 ½ hours later_______________________________

Max's pov

I woke up a few minutes ago, fully rested. Now I was just lying here, not knowing if I would get another chance. I was wrapped up in Fangs arms, and we were- unknowingly on his part- cuddling. I know, it was scary to wake up like this, but over night I had realized something.

I am going to die someday. I know, you all are thinking 'wow, you are one smart birdie, you just figured out the circle of life!'

You already knew this, but even though I have always been faced with that possibility, from when I wake up to when I go to sleep, I never accepted the idea before. I always knew that I had to get out of it, whatever 'it' was, if only for my flock I had to. It never occurred to me that I may just die, like from a natural disease or something like that. If an eraser didn't kill me, then the expiration date eventually would. I had always thought this, but now I am beginning to wonder. What if, what if I make it to be 20 years old? What will I do?

So over night, I realized that I may as well live life to the fullest. If I die in a fight, I am taking you and any other enemy with me, and I am told by Iggy that I have two weeks, then those are going to be the best dang two weeks of my life. But I don't think I will get a two weeks notice, so I may as well assume that my two weeks starts today.

Anyhow, this is the best possible thing that I could be doing right now, laying in Fang's arms, so I just went with the flow, like I had been advised to do for a very long time now….

I happily laid there for a few more minutes before I decided to 'wake up and stretch'. I groaned, and 'accidentally' hit Fangs leg with mine.

He jerked awake, and swung his feet of the bed, before jumping into position. He was ready to fight at; I looked at the clock, 8:12 in the morning?! How, unless I saw the erasers, I would still be in bed if he woke up like I did…

He turned to look at me, and I saw bewilderment in his eyes. He seemed to have been awake enough to feel me pressed up against him, I nearly blushed at the thought, and he didn't know it was me, as I hadn't known it was him when I first woke up.

When he jumped up, so did I, trying not to laugh at his expression when he saw that we had been so close. He, of course, saw right through me though. When he looked up at me, with his expression completely calm, he saw me, and smirked in response to what he saw. I looked at him like he was crazy trying to hide the fact that he was most likely right in whatever he was thinking.

I just lowered my eyebrows in a mocking manner, and walked to the bathroom. I decided to make use of the shower one last time before we left, and I hopped in the shower. I don't know if I have ever told you guys this, but I don't shave. I don't really need to, remember when you were little and you had blond invisible hair on your arms? I don't even have that. I haven't ever questioned it really, but I assume it is because of the bird in us, we are not fully mammal, so we aren't covered in hair like all of you are. Ha! Anyhow, sorry about that, I just had to get that out there, and if you are going to be honest with me, you have laughed at me more then a few times.

When I got out, I got dressed, and towel dried my hair so that it would take less time to air dry.

When I got out, Fang looked at me, and followed my example getting in the shower too. About 5 minutes into his shower, there was a knock on the door. I looked out the peep hole, expecting Nudge to be there wanting to get breakfast. Instead it was Eric, with a tray of food. I opened the door; just for show, peeked out, then slammed it shut, hoping he would take the hint. He didn't, he just knocked again.

"Max, whose there?" Fang shouted from the bathroom, and I heard the water off.

"That guy from a few nights ago," I respond, carefully leaving out his name, which night it was, and all other things that may give him an idea that he had left a lasting impression on me, also making sure to yell louder then needed so he would hear me loud and clear. The knocking hesitated for a second, then picked up in pace and loudness.

I ripped open the door, in deliberate anger, and fixed my face into a mask of annoyance.

"I have brought you breakfast my darling," Eric said, looking at me like he expected praise or something. He wasn't getting any from me now, or any time soon. He may get a kick in the face but that is about it.

Suddenly the bathroom door swung open, to reveal a dripping wet, wrapped in a towel Fang. I did my best not to stare, that would be rude. I am sure my eyes bugged out of my head when I saw him though, because he was even more built then a few days ago. How did that happen? The only imperfection on him was the 5-6 inch scar running across his side. I remembered only to well where that scar came from. That was from when Ari attacked him, that morning on the beach. The morning when I first kissed him and he had had a split lip, so it hurt him…

Fang smirked first at my expression, and then his smirk only grew more evil when he saw Eric. For the first time I looked at what he was smirking at. Eric looked terrible. His nose had gauze stuffed up it, and he had a black eye, fat lip and his hand was wrapped up in an ace bandage. Pussy.

Fang had done that in a few swings, and nothing more. And this guy was back for more? How many times was he dropped on his head as a kid?

"I'm not hungry," I replied, icily enough that I was sure glaciers would start forming. He jutted out his bottom lip, and pouting at me. It was pathetic.

"Defiantly not after seeing that," I said, referring to the look on his face. Fang was staring intently at Eric's un-blackened eye. I could tell he was resisting the urge to laugh.

Eric looked like his puppy had been ran over by a car and his best friend had been under the tires too.

"Are you sure?" Eric asked, sounding defeated, like he already knew the answer. I nodded vigorously thinking that he may finally give it up. "Then I will wait until you are hungry," he said, clicking back to his arrogant self again.

"Good luck with that," and I slammed the door in his face, I swear it must have hit his nose, if only it was a revolving door…

Fang looked at me with a questioning glance. I knew we needed to get out of here, but he was right outside of the door. What the heck am I supposed to do?

"Call Iggy," Fang said, looking like that was a brilliant plan.

"And…," I wasn't sure what he meant.

"He can release Gazzy," Fang replied, holding back a laugh and acting like it was not big deal. I thought it was a brilliant plan personally, but he just shrugged at my response to that, Fang… always the modest one. Not.

I grinned and picked up the phone, and hit nine, then their room number. After a ring or two, Iggy picked up and said "yellow," with a southern accent. He knew it was me, from the caller id, so I didn't bother introducing myself, I just said,

"Could you and Gazzy come outside of our door, and have Gazzy pretend its Christmas, and give the people outside lots of gifts?" I already knew he would agree, but I wanted to see the outcome.

"Sure?" Iggys said confused, but he told Gazzy, who whopped when he heard the plan, and said "I'll be right there."

About 2 minutes later, I heard Nudge, Angel, Gazzy, and Iggy's voices coming down the hallway. Then it went silent, for a second.

"What are you doing here?" Iggy asked, realizing why we wanted Gazzy to make believe that it was Christmas.

There was no response; the only noise that could be heard was a slight, insignificant, wind type noise. That _insignificant_ noise I previously mentioned was the noise of Gazzy's fart. It was not insignificant.

Within seconds, there was a very high pitched scream that did not resemble the flocks at all.

When I opened the door, a few minutes later, armed with Febreeze, I noticed that the flock was laughing, and pointing at a corner that you couldn't see around.

In my mind I got the explanation that I wanted_. 'That was Eric, and he flipped when Gazzy farted!' _Angel projected into my mind. I snorted out a laugh too, and Fang looked at me like I was crazy. Maybe I was… but soon after he smiled for a second and I think that Angel told him what happened, but with him it is hard to tell what is going on up there.

We walked out of that hallway, to the direction that Nudge was pointing when we came out of the room, and that lead to the lobby. We got downstairs, and saw Eric, as soon as our eyes connected; he ducked down, and didn't come back up as we returned out keys to Ethan.

We walked out the doors, and walked down the street, talking casually, hoping not to draw attention. When we reached the town border, we unfurled out wings, after making sure that no one was watching or near (thanks Angel!) and took off.

Now for the 8 hour flight there…

**A/N I had to put this up twice, becasue other wise it woulnt tell you guys that i have chpater 13 up becsue i had an authors note up so ya, sorry about this. review for this chappie if you didnt for the last one 13 please!**


	15. They're coming

Chapter 14

Fang's pov

We were all up and flying, I was holding Angel's clothes, Gazzy's clothes, and my clothes, Nudge was holding her own, as were Max and Iggy, and it was just a peaceful quiet. Max insisted that every two hours we would switch the younger kid's bags. Gazzy and Angel were carrying Total, until he felt the urge to fly. So far he had flown for a grand total of 3 times so far. He was very proud of himself and that mixed with the fact that he would see Akiela very soon made for a very excited Total.

Max's pov

Total was agreeing for anything that any of us mentioned other then when I, jokingly, said that we should stop for the night after only an hour. The look on Totals face was priceless. Even Angel grinned, but she didn't hesitate to tell him that I was only kidding, which I was but still…

I was truly excited to see my mom for the first time in a month or so, so I really didn't notice how the time flies when you're having fun… or just really distracted.

I noticed now that it was pretty dark, and so I knew that it had been more then the two hours that we were supposed to trade off the extra clothes, and Fang didn't say anything. Somehow I wasn't shocked.

"Can I fly again?" Total asked, mostly just to tell us he was flying and not as a question.

"No," I stated harshly, more so then I intended. He looked at me confused wondering why I snapped at him, I immediately felt bad. "It is too dark; if you fall we won't be able to see you. So unless you don't want to get caught when you are flying and not get to see Akiela when you are only hours away," I trailed off knowing that he would cave, not wanting to fall so soon.

He shuddered, and I knew that I won. "Fine, fine, fine, I will wait till its light again," he grumbled, keeping his head out of the bag so that the wind flew through his fur. I turned to Fang, knowing this was the perfect opportunity to bring up that it was time to switch.

"Fang, give me the bags," I said, opening my arms up and wondering how he was going to pass them to me. He stared at me for a second, and then he flew up higher so he was above me and slowly adjusted his wing flaps to match mine perfectly. Once we were flying in perfect sync, he lowered himself so he could hand me the bags. But he only handed me one.

"Fang give me the rest now," I said, knowing that he was going to argue with me, and to be honest I already knew what he was going to say and I didn't want to hear it.

He was going to say that he could get the bags, and try to be a macho man. He knows just as well as I do that girls are just as strong as guys are, and that I am proof of that. Sure, guys can build muscle easier then girls can, but, if you ask me, girls are way more motivated. I especially am because I want to prove all of those sexist pigs wrong and show them that girls are just as good as guys, if not better at some/most things. Ok, rant over, but really, Fangs should just give me the bags and spare his ears of me yelling at him.

He saw in my eyes that I wanted to carry all of them, so he handed it to me, and then went back to flying over where he originally was. A small part of me wished that his hand had brushed mine or something like that… 'No stop that! Forget him!' I mentally yelled, really not wanting to think about that or him right now.

Gazzy, who was holding Total, was starting to look tired and like he was going to drop dead any minute now, so I made a snap decision to land soon.

"Guys when we can see the next town, we are going to stop get some food, and then find a place to camp," I shouted over the wind, knowing that they would be disappointed that we couldn't stay in a hotel tonight, we had gotten used to that after a few days.

Now that I thought about it, we had been staying in hotels for about two weeks. First I got hurt and everyone insisted that we stay in hotels because I would heal faster, then we flew about 80 miles and stopped again, and stayed in another hotel, for 3 days and two nights. Wow, we were going soft.

No one really responded, but I knew that they weren't looking forward to sleeping in trees again; they liked beds, but then again, which one of you wouldn't?

Every now and then we would spot a patch of lights to our left or right, but those were out of our way, and none of us really wanted to get off course, so we just kept going. Finally we saw a very tiny clump of lights and when we got closer and lower we noticed that it was a VERY small town. It looked like it had about 11 houses, and one tiny gas station/grocery store. This was a perfect place to stop.

I signaled that it was time to land, and we adjusted our feathers so we could land properly. I didn't know how we were going to find a place to sleep when that is all there is around here, is places to hide away in the woods. Man, if only we could live here for a few weeks, then go to New Jersey for a week the difference would be huge. It was comical to think about to be honest.

We were just above the trees on the far west side of 'town' when we decided that there was an opening in the trees big enough for us to land. We landed, and then started hiking. A half hour or so later we came to a road with a sign of a gas pump pointing right on the road.

We followed the arrow and soon enough we were in town. The store looked even more beat up now that we were closer and didn't have to use our raptor vision.

I opened the door, holding my head high, but not in a cocky arrogant way that would draw attention. A little bell rang over my head, and I had to resist jumping because I was so tense every little noise scared me.

I smiled and forced my face to look like I was laughing. "Don't worry, Mommy is right around the corner getting directions with Daddy," I said to Angel with mock sweetness, and the look on Angels face told me that the older looking man had bought it. People worried when we walked in, looking like homeless bums, and with no parents. Our appearance looked ok, because we had just showered so that wasn't a problem, but not having parents with us may be. Especially because we had Iggy and Gazzy waiting outside the door with the nice clothes bags. I didn't want them to follow us around to make sure we didn't steal anything because we had those bags.

"Are you all new to the town?" the old cashier asked kindly.

"No, we are just camping and we had to pass through here," I answered politely, not wanting to be rude when he hadn't started it.

"Oh ok, well the camping supplies is right down that aisle, on the far end. Our lighters are up here, you must be 18 to buy those," he stated helpfully. It shocked me that this store had a camping section. When we got there I almost laughed. This was not a camping section.

It had a small lantern, in one brand, and a few rolled up blankets. I picked up 8 of those, even though there were only six of us, (Total always shared with Angel) I got two extra because I had said when we walked in that our parents were in the car. Then I got some soap from across the aisle, in the cleaning department. We walked up, all carrying one or two blankets and set them down on the counter.

Then we walked into the food section. Thankfully this was not nearly as limited. We were going to get some roots from the campsite, just to ease ourselves back into this routine, but we needed real food too. I grabbed all the Hungry-Man meals, some bread (two loafs) 3 packages of hotdogs, and 4 bags of chips. I set those on the counter and got a look from the cashier whose name was scribbled and tapped onto his shirt as "Harold".

He started ringing it all up, curiously looking at me the whole time and when I grabbed 14 candy bars, two of everyone's favorite, and set those on the counter he just couldn't hold it in anymore. "You sure you want all of this, Missy?"

"Yes, thank you," I said, still acting sweet, and plaster a fake smile on my face. He shrugged and rung it up. "Our parents are getting directions from someone on the road, and it's kind of a long trip."

He nodded and finished ringing it up. "Is that all?"

"That too please," Fang said, pointing to a lighter under the glass countertop.

"Sorry, but that is for those 18 and up," Harold said not condescendingly, but just matter of factly.

"I am 18," Fang lied smoothly; he did look the oldest with all of the muscle he had, and the way his hair flipped to the one side, and the way NO STOP MAX! I stopped myself. The only thing Iggy had on him was a few inches, and I was still a little to… physically un-matured to look 18 yet, at least I hoped that I had a few more curves when I was 18 because right now I was like a door, a few inches thick, and very tall and extremely flat.

"Ok which one did you want?" the cashier asked, not questioning Fang in the slightest, but he really did look 18.

Fang pointed to a black one (shocker!) and Harold pulled it out.

"Ok that comes to 65.43," Harold said, adding everything up with an ancient looking calculator.

I handed over the money, and he looked at it like it was the most money anyone had ever given him in his life. He opened the cash register and gently placed it in. He looked back at us and said "Thank you for your business and come back anytime!" we turned and walked out the door waving sincerely at the kind old man. He was polite about our food, and believed what we said, probably because he only got customers who had to be honest because if they weren't their parents would ground them. Oh no, they may not be able to go hiking! Sarcasm people.

We had gotten to a semi-clearing, and decided to stay here.

There were about 10 trees with forks the perfect size for sleeping, and we planned to put them to good use. I immediately called second watch; that was always the worst one. Fang normally insisted on taking that one, and then he hardly gets any sleep. You get to sleep for a few hours, and then you get woken up, then you get to sleep for a couple more hours. In the morning, it feels like you would have been better off to not even go to sleep.

Fang looked at me, and he obviously knew my plan, but he wasn't very pleased with it. I grinned back at him, in a way that I knew would tick him off because it stated flatly 'there is nothing you can do to stop me.' He scowled at me and then faced the other direction.

We all picked a tree, and grabbed a blanket each. When Total looked at me, I reminded him by saying, "Don't you want to share with Angel, if not you have a blanket." I knew he was just testing me to see if I had gotten him one, because if not he could complain about it.

"No I want to share with Angel," he replied quickly. I personally think he is afraid of the dark, but don't tell him I said that. We unrolled the blankets, and decided who got the lumpiest tree and gave them one of the extra blankets, and then the person on watch got one too, to sit on so it was more comfortable for them.

I was considering allowing Nudge to sit up with me for part of my next watch where I got first, because she was now a year older then I was when I took over. That would only be fair to let even my babies to grow up eventually. I saw the way she eyed me when we dealt out watches, and I knew that she wanted one, but she was not going to ask. I would just see how she liked it before having her call a permanent one. I figured that she would if only for the fact that it made her more grown up and she seemed to want to do that pretty badly.

Fang ended up taking last watch, that was always the second worst, and so Iggy was left with first watch, the easiest. We normally traded that one, but Fang never wanted that watch, he always fought for second. I will never understand why.

Iggy lit a fire (without Fangs lighter) and we heated up our Hungry-Man meals next to the fire. They didn't get oven hot, but they unfroze and we ate them because that is all I ask for anymore. I unrolled the blanket and told Iggy to pop a squat, and I went to my tree and got ready to go to sleep.

After I unfolded my blanket, and successfully climbed into it, I noticed how warm these blankets really were. I would have to go back and thank Harold for selling them to us. After we all got settled in and Iggy could accurately hear what was going on, I allowed myself to fall into a deep sleep. So deep in fact that I didn't even dream.

________________________Iggy's watch________________________

Uneventful

"Max, wake up, wake up," a voice whispered in my ear. I opened my eyes, wondering how it was possible that it was my watch already, I just fell asleep. I wiped the sleep out of my eyes, and sat up. I pulled my legs up to my chest and slid out of my sleeping bag/blanket.

I hopped to the ground and then Iggy knew I was really up, and he climbed up his tree silently and fell right asleep. I knew nothing had gone wrong or he would have mentioned it, so I just sat up listening and looking. The thing with watch was that you couldn't think or anything, just wait and listen. Sometimes it was hard, mostly when you had something on your mind, which I did. I still didn't know what to do about Fang. I was beginning to accept that I liked him more then a brother, but I still had one big problem. What if we broke up and it made things awkward between us? I knew that the kids would have no problem with it, and Iggy wouldn't either, but if things went wrong would they?

See this is what I mean, I get too distracted on watch, and you can't do that. I just emptied my mind and watched. Next thing I knew, the fog was coming off the ground. **(A/N I don't know if fog only rises from lakes, but I need it to come from the ground to signal morning, ok, deal with it)**.

I nearly ran over to Fang and shook him awake, having lost track of time and I knew that he would be mad it he didn't get any watch at all. He was up in seconds and he looked around. It was still dark, but within an hour the sun would be beginning to rise. "You let me oversleep," he stated, not as angry as I thought he would be.

I grinned, "Sorry I lost track of time." He didn't say anything, but just rubbed his hands up and down my arms quickly and then when I looked at him funny he said,

"You looked cold," and then dropped the subject. "Your bag has dew in it, you can use mine," he said looking over at my blanket. I was going to argue, but I knew he was right; mine would have dew in it.

He seemed shocked that I listened to him, but pleasantly so. I felt suddenly self-conscious climbing into his bed with him standing right there, but I ignored the feeling and jumped in. A slight smile graced his face, and he said in a rather husky voice "Do you need me to tuck you in?" I knew he was mocking me, but I couldn't bring a sarcastic remark to my mouth for the life of me.

He seemed to be having the same problem, but I couldn't understand why. Fang was never speechless unless of course he didn't want to talk. Ok fine, so he was always speechless.

He looked into my eyes for a minute, and then he leaned down and pressed his lips to my forehead. I was too shocked to move, sure he had done it once before but that was under different circumstances. We were in private, and it was a heat of the moment thing. Why would he do it again? It wasn't like he thought of me like that or anything. Angel had said he did but she had to have been lying. He wouldn't think like that about me, would he?

Sure Fang had kissed me and said he liked me, but heck, I was the only girl around. How did he know he liked me, not just any girl that walked by, and that happened to be me, so he was stuck with me. What if that was the reason? Is that why I like him? Because he is the only one I could like? I mean, I could like Iggy too, but that thought sent shudders down my spine, and I can't even think about that without gagging.

I didn't even notice that I fell asleep, but apparently I did, because I awoke to the smell of more Hungry-Man meals being heated up.

It was morning, you could tell, but it wasn't very light. I looked up at the sky, expecting what I saw. There were clouds covering the sky, big black clouds that looked like rain clouds.

"Hey guys, if it isn't raining in an hour, and it isn't going to, then we'll leave. We can't fly in the rain so we are staying for another hour, ok?" I said, avoiding all eye contact with Fang. I really didn't know why he kissed my forehead, but for some reason that I established last night, I liked it. I liked him.

Just as I was realizing this, Nudge decided that we needed to play tag. No teams, no flying, just running. I really didn't want to, but if it made them happy then heck, I was game. We were all laughing and running when all of a sudden Angel stopped tickling Total, and looked up at me with horror in her eyes.

"They're coming!" she whisper shouted, sounding terrified

**A/N ohh, terrible cliffy. i am sorry, but i had to do it. wow, lol i would kill me if i posted this one and i had to wait a week to find out who was coming. that makes no sense. **

**review pretty please!**


	16. You're kidding me!

You're Kidding Me

"_They're coming!" she whisper shouted._

Max's pov

Then we all snapped into action. Gazzy ripped bombs from places where, thank God, they didn't go off, and so did Iggy. Angel didn't have to specify what was coming; it really didn't matter because we all knew it wasn't good by the look on her face. A minute later we were all perched up high in the highest trees around, and you couldn't even tell that we had been at the campsite. They would know, obviously, became they had somehow found out we were here.

A few tense minutes later, I saw the bushes move slightly. Then a hand covered in hair moved aside some branches and poked his face out. I saw him look around, and then he gestured with his hand for the rest of his equally smelly buddies to follow him out of the bushes.

Once all of them were in the clearing, I saw him wave his hand around the clearing, and I heard him say something, but I couldn't hear what. Then they started looking around, and then I told Angel to give Iggy the go-ahead.

Seconds later, it was raining bombs from Iggy and Gazzy, and the second they hit the ground, they went off. I was glad that we were pretty high up in the air, because the erasers… stray parts were flying everywhere.

The bombs just kept going off for about 3 minutes, and I was about to tell Gazzy and Iggy to stop when suddenly all the explosions stopped. This was so loud that I knew someone in town would have heard it even though the town was around 5 miles away, in the direction that the erasers came from now that I think about it… They probably just drove here, so they had to take the roads and that's why they came from that way.

Fang started swinging from branch to branch, getting closer and closer to the ground with each swing, and then when he was a little more then 10 feet up, he jump the rest of the way down. Was he part monkey too?! Jeeze oh Petes.

The smoke cleared seconds after Fang landed, and it looked like a scene from an action movie with very good graphics.

Erasers were laying everywhere and they all seemed to be dead. This was a good start to our plan of the ambushes, but they surprised us, and we did not want that happening. If it would have been flyboys, even though Jeb said it wouldn't be, Angel wouldn't have known they were coming ahead of time. That could have changed everything.

Then I heard a heart stopping sound. A cough, a simple cough, but in a very deep tone, the tone of an Eraser. That means that we didn't get all of them. I whipped my head around to look and see if there were more coming, when I saw an eraser with a stick going through his abdomen.

I ran to him, and put my boot on his neck and pushed down. "How did you find us?" I demanded. He just sputtered and spat up more blood. I pushed down harder.

"Your dear friend Harold helped," he chocked out, not sounding the least bit scary, but his words made my face pale. I tried to think back to exactly what I had said to Harold. I remember telling him that our mother was in the car; that implied that we were going to see her. If he had told them that, then he would know that I knew who my mom was, and if that was in there files, then they would be there way faster then we could ever hope to be.

I didn't know what to do with this piece of vermin. He had answered my question, but he was still here to kill us. I decided to ease his misery, and I reached my hands down, and snapped his neck.

The resounding pop was disgusting. I don't condone killing if it isn't necessary, but he was going to die anyhow, and I just sped up the process and saved him suffering.

I turned around and the flock remained dead silent. "We need to get out of here," I said urgently.

No one moved. "Guys?" I questioned, wondering what was up. Finally someone moved… Fang.

"Uhh, Max, you ok?" he said, reaching his hand towards me ever so slowly.

"Yea, why?" I responded slowly, wondering what was up.

"You just… intentionally killed him. He wasn't even a threat to us anymore," Fang responded, looking at me like he thought I might grown a third head, he was beyond looking at me like I had a second head, we had moved straight to third.

"Look guys, he was already dying, his heartbeat was fading, and we need to go now," Iggy said, breaking the silence that was hurting my ears. I hated that my flock was looking at me like I was a murderer.

"Let's go!" I shouted and opened up my wings. "Look he was dying and I didn't think that he needed to suffer, so I eased his pain. That's it, so can we go NOW?"

Gazzy opened his wings first, and all the rest of the younger kids followed. I noticed that Angel's wings were already partially opened, and were pushed behind her, not into her back like we usually had them.

We all got up in the air, I was up last and Fang and Iggy first, and the others in the middle somewhere. When we got into the air, Nudge was silent, and kept shooting sideways glances at me. I flew closer to Fang, and flicked my eyes behind us, signaling that we should slow down.

A minute later we were 20 feet behind everyone else and I knew that no one would hear us over the roaring wind.

"Why didn't anyone move?" I asked slowly, dreading the answer.

"We couldn't hear what you were saying, we just saw you go pale, and then snap his neck," Fang replied, knowing that there was more to the story then he knew, and he wanted to fix that.

"Oh," I said slowly, thinking it over. I guess it did look pretty bad, but still what were they thinking about me right now?

Fang gave me a prodding look; he wanted to know what was said.

"Well," I started, "I asked him how he found us. He said Harold told him. If Harold is with them, then that means Harold told them about our 'parents'," I said putting quotations around parents. When he didn't show any sign of recognition I continued, "So that means he said we were getting stuff for my mom. When I said it, it was just a cover up, but Itex may see past that and know that I am going to visit Dr. Martinez, and if they know where she lives…," I trailed off, knowing that he would understand where I was going with this.

"Guys pick up the pace!" Fang shouted, which was really weird for him, considering he was such a quiet person. "They can't beat us to mo-Dr. Martinez's and they might be on there way right now!" he continued. He must know how this was bothering me, and wanted to help. Sometimes I wish I could hide my emotions like he could. It wasn't fair!

'_And since when has life been fair?'_ Jeb questioned me.

'It hasn't. Are they there yet?' I asked him, not caring about much else. He didn't say anything, and the silence lengthened. I couldn't deal with the stupid silence anymore.

"Look guys, that eraser back there said that Harold told him where we were. That means that he may have told Itex that our 'Mom' was in the car. If Itex looked too far into that, then they may be looking for who my mom is, and if they already know and are on their way, then we need to get there first," I said, catching up to the flock first, so that they heard me. Nudges mouth dropped open.

"They're after your mom?!" she shrieked. I could tell that she didn't know that was what was said, but now that she knew, she felt bad for doubting me.

I had made sure to keep my mind blocked, because I didn't want Angel to know how panicky I was, but she was trying to figure out my mind right now, I could tell.

"Yes," I replied calmly.

"Then let's GO!" Total shouted so loudly that I knew it was a good thing that we were high up in the air or he may have been heard. I knew he was only worried about Akiela and not my mom so much, but it was still nice to have someone who wanted to get there as much as I did.

We flew at a pretty fast pace for an hour or so, but I could see Nudge tiring out. Nudge eats a lot, like as much as Fang. She must be getting hungry, but she doesn't want to say anything.

"Hey Nudge!" I yell, and then I threw one of her candy bars to her. Everyone saw and then wanted theirs, so I tossed them their candy bars. Even Total wanted one. That wasn't nearly enough to refuel her, but it would hold her over for another hour or so before we had to stop. I didn't want to until we absolutely had to, then we would get tons of granola bars, and so we could eat on the way. That sounded pretty good to me.

Nudge still hadn't said anything, and I knew that when she got to the point where it was almost unbearable, she would tell me and if she didn't, Angel would.

About 45 minutes later, I noticed that Gazzy and Angel were lagging behind. Nudge had a familiar determined look on her face, and she was keeping right up with Iggy. Iggy was talking with her, his face turned in her direction.

"Guys we can stop for an hour, tops, and then we need to go again!" I shouted back to Angel and Gazzy, and they instantly caught up to us, and started looking for a grocery store.

Within a half hour, we had landed and were walking inside of the store. We headed straight to the grocery section, but once we got there, Nudge pointed out a group of blond, buff, and fairly good looking guys. Guys that seemed to look a lot like erasers in there human form. I looked at Angel, and she said that they weren't thinking about us, but that may just be Itex improving, and because we had just gotten found, I figured that we may as well avoid them. I grabbed Iggy's hand, and lead him away silently, to the electronics department. Fang and the rest followed us and took the hint following quietly.

Once we got there, we all let out a heavy breath. "I don't think that was erasers, but you can't be too careful, when your us that is," I said, with a slight smile at the end.

Everyone nodded in agreement. I figured that we had to be getting pretty close to the border into New Mexico, so I wasn't too worried about how fast we went.

I turned to the TV, and was going to watch that for a minute or two before we went back to the grocery section just to be sure that everyone was gone. What I saw nearly made me faint.

There were images of a body being carried out of a very small, run down store with gas pumps. A little girl, maybe 12 years old, was sobbing in the top right corner, and one the bottom of the screen, was a photo of none other then Harold.

He was dead.

I gasped, and grabbed Fangs arm, turning him around so that he too was facing the screen. As soon as he realized what had happened his jaw slackened.

Then it got worse. A reporter came on, and she began talking, "it appears that in this small town, the unthinkable has happened. Early this morning, right after 6 o'clock, an ear piercing scream woke the town. Alicia came to work with her grandfather, and after taking out the trash, returned to find him dead. She called the cops, and when they arrived he was declared officially dead. The video camera that runs after dark, and before light, showed a group of teenagers and under children. They came about an hour after dark, and this is what happened," she finished. I had a bad feeling I knew who those teens were; us.

The video footage proved what I had suspected. We were going to get blamed for this, because we were the newcomers in the town.

By now, the entire flock was facing the TV now. Then the reporter came back on.

"If you have scene any of the potentially armed and dangerous delinquents, call the cops immediately, but don't let them know that you are on to them. You don't want to suffer the same fate as Mr. Harold Walker," she finished.

"Let's go," I said, and started walking towards the food isles.

We got the food and got out of there. I needed to know what had happened to Harold, because God knows we sure as heck didn't have anything to do with him dying.

We flew as fast as we could, for as long as we could. After only 4 hours, I began to recognize some of the land formations. Nudge seemed to recognize stuff too, because she started to go lower without having to be told to. She is really growing up…

Pretty soon, I was recognizing the houses, and I knew that we should land now. "Going down!" I yelled for everyone to hear me, and they followed me down.

When we landed, we were just outside of my mom's neighborhood.

After less then 5 minutes we were at my moms. I raised my hand to knock on the door, and it flew open and Ella came running out, and made a jump for me.

"Oh my god Max! You're here, finally! Thank you so much for coming! I missed you! Are you ok?" she looked me over, and then nodded her consent. "Who killed that man? I know you didn't, was there a fight?! What happened, are you all ok?" she was about to have a heart attack it looked like, so I interrupted her.

"Were fine, none of us know what happened to Harold, and you had better let Akiela out right about now," I said, and right on cue, Total started barking his 'manly bark.'

At the sound of his barking/shrieking Akiela came running out of the house, and leapt up onto Nudge, knocking her over, because she had Total in her backpack.

Angel smiled, and we all turned out attention back to Ella, and my Mom, who was just stumbling out of the house, with a tissue to her face, and looking miserable.

"What happened to you?" I asked, jokingly.

"Flu," she wheezed out, "and bronchitis and I'm contagious. Stay away from me," she finished with a smile to let all of us know that she was doing it for us, not because she didn't want to be near any of us.

"I don't care," I ran forward and gave her a huge hug, not really concerned if she was sick or not, much less if I was going to get sick. She hugged me back enthusiastically, and I knew that inside it meant a lot to her that even with the risk of getting sick I hugged her. Just because I don't live with her, she is still my mother and I love her.

"Max, what happened?" she asked into my hair, not demanding for an answer, but letting me knows that she wanted to know also.

Ella grabbed my hand and led me inside, after giving a warm smile to everyone else, hugging Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge, and shaking Iggy's hand, and then smiling again at Fang.

When we got inside, it was sweltering hot, and I looked at Ella, mouthing "Has it been like this for a while?" she smiled sadly and said, out loud "Yes." I had to laugh at that, when Ella said that she made it seem like the worst thing in the world, that the heat was turned up to high.

She smiled again, and I knew that she understood what I was thinking. Within a few minutes Iggy and Ella were talking, but Ella was focusing more on the cookies then anything else. She was making them this time since mom was sick and figured this was the best way not to infect us, was to not cook for us.

She put them in the oven, "I think they're perfect, I followed the recipe exactly, and they look the same as moms do," she stated.

Nudge was trying to find Akiela and Total, which was a wasted effort, she had looked everywhere within a mile and still hadn't found hem, and to be honest, I was glad. You never know what they might be doing right now…

Fang was sitting in the corner, watching everything going on with his foot propped up on the wall, and leaning on it, looking so mysterious. He was not really focusing on anything, just looking around the room but he seemed like he was looking for something. He was turning his head my way when he caught my eye. Our gazes met, and I couldn't break it, and it seemed like neither could he. I noticed that his eyes were a deeper brown then I previously thought; they were a chocolate brown, with streaks of dark brown in them. I unconsciously lowered my jaw, and smiled slightly at him.

Just then I heard a throat clear behind me, and when I turned, Ella was smiling huge and was looking from me to Fang, to me and back again. "Max, can I talk to you?" she asked, leaving Iggy standing there, confused.

I didn't want to talk to her right now because I knew what she was going to say, and if she said what I think she is going to say, that it is true. I know it is; I really, really like Fang. It isn't just some tiny crush, it isn't just a dying kiss for him, it is the one and only crush that I have ever had, and I think it will last for another lifetime, if not more. I was ready to admit that, but that is it, just a crush, but one of those that would last for a while I'd bet.

"Do you have something that you would like to tell me about a certain friend of yours?" Ella pestered me, not even fully out of earshot of Iggy yet.

"Speaking of Iggy, do you have something that you would like to tell me about him?" I directed back, not wanting to answer her question.

She didn't even blush like I had expected, "I admire him just as much as I admire you. You are the leader, the hardest job, but he is blind, that is tough too. I don't like him in any way other then a brother, but I would like to be friends with him. That's it, now what is your story?" she said, and I didn't detect a single trace of a lie in her voice. That made this harder; if she had just confessed who she liked to me it would have been easier to tell her that I liked Fang.

"Well it starts off when our mother donated me as an egg, I was…," and she cut me of.

"So not what I meant, and you know it! Do you like him, don't bother denying it, because I know that you do, I just want you to say it," she slowly calmed her voice back down to speaking level, but was frustrated, I could tell.

"If I say that I like him, you won't tell him, or anyone else for that matter will you?" I asked her, knowing that would be answer enough for her.

She grinned hugely. "I so knew it! When we were in Washington and you guys left, I knew you guys liked each other! You left with him in the middle of the night, you are always by him, and you don't even look other guys' way or anything. Aw it is so cute. What I said on the phone of the news reporter report was all true, I wasn't kidding in the slightest! This is great!" she finished, by which time I was blushing so bad that I was sweating. Was it really cooler then this in the house? It felt about a million zillion degrees in here.

"Sorry, just really excited here. Hum… I will have to get you guys together before you leave, how I will do that?" she trailed off, talking to herself.

"You won't!" I said too loudly. "You promised you wouldn't tell."

She looked at me and her eyes focused. "Okaaaay," she drew out the 'a' for a long time, thinking something over.

She seemed to have come to a decision. "Don't worry, I wont tell," she turned to walk inside, and I was about to swing her around by her shoulders and tell her that I would beat her to a pulp if she so much as hinted that I said anything to her. I forced myself not to, remembering that she was family, and family helps each other out, not hurts each other like that. So I let it slide, thinking that she wasn't planning anything at all.

Boy oh boy was I wrong.


	17. Harold's Story

Harold's Story

Harold's pov **(A/N shocker…)**

Today was 'take your child to work day', and seen as how my children were all grown up, I didn't have anyone to bring. Alicia had always been interested in running the store after I was gone, so I asked her to come. She is my eldest granddaughter.

About and hour into the shift, she was getting bored. I could tell, and not a single person had come in, so I asked her to take the trash out, because it needed to be done. The look on her face told me that she would do just about anything right now to get out of here, and I didn't want her to not like it here anymore because of one boring day. Right as she walked out of the back door, 6 men came into view, and then a few carloads followed them, closely behind.

All the men looked like they had stepped out of the 'United States Army, an army of one' brochures. They all wore black combat boots, which appeared to have a steel toe at the end, big loose pants, which were jeans, but not quite jeans. They looked like a new kind of material. There shirts were tight black. No one around here wore shirts that tight. Then again no one around here was that built either.

I needed to stop judging them like that, it was rude. I didn't even know them, yet I was already making assumptions.

"Hello. May I help you find something?" I asked them, smiling genuinely when I realized that Alicia would be back in about 5 minutes from taking out the trash, and she would get to see them.

"Someone, actually," one of the men said, with a horrible sneer.

That statement confused, who could they be looking for? There wasn't a person in this town that was wanted for anything; there was hardly ever even a speeding ticket around here. The man must have noticed the confused look on my face, because he elaborated.

"There is a 17 year old blond girl, an 18 year old dark skinned boy, another 18 year old boy; he probably didn't come in the store, a 15 year old black girl, a 12 year old boy, and a 10 year old girl that have been spotted crossing through here recently. They are murder suspects," he lied.

I met those kids, yes I sure as heck remember them, they had great manners, and that is rare for a large group of teens like that. They did not do that. I saw in their eyes, and I could tell. They're eyes were free of any doubt like that, and the closer I looked that these guys, the more I knew that they were trouble.

"No, I haven't seen anyone like them around lately," I tried my best to lie. I noticed a slight bulge in one of the men's chest, just where the inside pocket would be.

"Look sir, these kids are hardened criminals. They will kill you and your pretty little granddaughter in the back out there. Where are they?" he growled out.

I knew he was lying, so I still acted innocent. "I really don't know what you're talking about," I said, trying to keep the panic out of my voice. They knew that Alicia was out back, and I was really starting to fear these men. They scared me.

"Bull shit!" he screamed at me, spit flying in my face.

"Sir please, I don't like to hear that language," I replied, I don't swear and neither do any of my family. I don't even know if Alicia has even heard that word before, very few people swear in this town, I didn't want these men to start them up.

"Let me tell you something!" one of the army men from the back said, "We will do whatever the fuck we want to, got it?" he shouted.

"That language is extremely unnecessary." I grunted. Fear would not stop me from telling them off on their language.

"If I think it is necessary, then it is. Don't question it, got it? Good. Tell me where they are, or you will regret it," he sneered.

"I honestly don't know where they are. Do you plan on buying anything, or just sitting here, because if you aren't going to buy anything then I need you to leave. Other customers will be here soon, and they need room to shop," I stated, knowing full well that it was Sunday, and nobody left the house on Sundays unless someone was hurt, sick, or they had to go to work. My store and the doctor's office were the only open stores, and only because we both had to do with people's health were we allowed to be opened.

"I'll buy this you dumb ass!" I heard him shout, before I felt a severe burning on my face. I groaned, not at his language, but at the searing pain. This hurt, but not as bad as some of the stuff I went through as a prisoner of war in the Vietnam War. That was 45 years ago, and a memory that I forced myself to forget. Everything came rushing back. The way they broke my arms when they found me sewing the American flag on my jacket, and then they beat me, and continued to break my arms when I refused to stop saying the pledge of Allegiance. Then how they stripped my dignity and took nearly all of my clothes, chained me to the rest of my surviving company, and paraded us through the city. How I was put in solitary confinement for weeks at a time, no light to even tell night from day. Not even knowing whether we had lost the war. I remember how Jack and I, my pseudo brother, would look for the tell-tale signs that the war was over. I remember when they killed Jack, and nearly killed me. I remember that was the only time I had even thought about dying. I remember everything. Even how they…

No, I won't think about it! I re-focused on the present and my problems now. I bit back a groan before I realized that I probably won't get 'two for flinching.'

I had more to live for now then when I was a young kid with no wife or family fighting in a war, and honestly, these guys were roughing me up but they wouldn't kill me. I think they would have done it already and not wasted time messing up my already old face.

I knew better then to taunt them, but they were not going to get me to bow at there feet.

"Are you going to tell me where they are now?!" he yelled.

I shook my head, and gritted my teeth, "Are you going to leave so that the new customers can shop in peace?" I challenged, knowing it was a bad idea, but losing control of my mouth for a second.

He growled, and then pulled his fist back, and punched me in the gut. I didn't expect the pain that came with it, his arms weren't even tensed! It looked like he was just play wrestling with his brothers, not pulling the good cop bad cop routine that I had seen on TV so many times.

It felt like what I imagined it would feel like to fall off of an angry bull and then have it turn and attack you. I feel that bull riding is cruel, but that isn't the point.

"Ready to tell me now?" he whispered, a deadly tone laced in his voice now. He was starting to seem like he may just kill me, but not if I had any say in it.

"Depends," I grunted. He cocked his head to the side, telling me to continue, and I smiled, "on whether or not you are ready to leave."

"We are getting no where. Let's just kill him. We have orders not to kill the girl, but if she sees us, we have to. She will say it wasn't those worthless bird freaks that the tape has, and we are screwed. The director won't be happy. Let's just kill him, and hunt them down ourselves," one from the back said to the leader, the one in front.

I snorted. Unless they literally stopped my heart, I was _not_ dying. The front man whirled, "Do you have something you need to say?" he asked, not liking my resistance.

I shook my head, a mocking grin on my face. I felt a slight pricking sensation on the left side of my face and then a painful tearing on my cheek. I grinned again, knowing that this guy had just hurt his own hand, while I hardly felt anything. While I was a P.O.W. **(A/N Prisoner of War)** the last few days before I was release, the Vietnam soldiers knew that they were about to be caught, that was the worst we had ever been treated. Jack died, and I nearly did too. When I first heard the gun shots, I knew it was over, either I died, which I wanted to, or they died. I didn't care which, I just wanted out of there. Then the dogs came.

I liked dogs, but these were fighting dogs, they hadn't been fed, and they had been abused. They attacked me. My face got so ripped up; I nearly bled to death right then. I saw our helicopters, so I held on, but it was a tough battle. They had to put metal plate under my skin on my whole face, along with part of my chest, and on the left side of my face 7 screws were placed. He hit directly where one was. The scarring was minimal, but the damage to his hand would be bad.

The guys face changed as he looked down at his hand. What I saw was right, he had hurt his hand. The skin was pushed slightly to the side, and I saw for the first time his hands. They were burned, badly. The scabs had ripped open again, and he was bleeding. The blood looked funny though… it was a darker color then it should have been. Normally blood is… well blood red. This was more of a blood red, and a maroon.

Then his hand started to grow hair as I looked at it. It was like nothing I have ever seen before, one second it was just a burned hand, the next it was a very hairy hand.

"No! Damn it! Not yet! Control yourself!" one of the men yelled. For the first I noticed how all of these guys looked the same.

The hair color varied slightly, but the style was the same, and the face was the same, it all was like interchangeable parts. If you take five guys and put them together, then you would get a different guy, who was also here. I knew that I was loosing my military training after 45 years… but how did I not notice this?

I don't know what it means, but they can't all be related, and they are all so similar looking?!

I backed away slowly, and slightly, so that they wouldn't notice my retreat, and looked for a way to get to the pans in isle 3. I could use them as a weapon, and I would get out of this if I had to.

"Ohhh," the man who was growing hair sneered, showing some very sharp, and very yellow teeth, "Is the poor old Grandpa scared of the half wolf men?" he cooed.

I straighten my back. If they were going to kill me, I was going to take as many as I could with me, so that Alicia had a chance to live. Even if 'the director' or the leader I assume, told them not to kill her, I don't want to take a chance.

I did an estimate of all the heads within reach of me, 5. Then a quick scan of all the heads in the same room, over 25.

I couldn't win this. If they wanted to kill me, then they were going to. Great.

I focused back of the greatest threat. The hairy handed man's face was growing hair just as fast as his hands did!

His face elongated, and his fingers on his hands grew so fast I thought that I was imagining it. But I knew better then to hope for things like that. So what is going on?!

He grinned at me. "Not expecting this were we, old man? Just give it another minute," he rasped out.

How could this get any weirder? You know in the comedy movies how the main character asks 'how can this get any worse?', and then it starts raining? Well this is sort of like that. I asked if it could get any weirder, and then it did. Mr. Hairy didn't even look human anymore.

I nearly laughed. I should have known this would happen; this is why I don't take sleeping pills! Whenever I do I have the weirdest dreams. Oh well, might as well enjoy the action packed dream. It has better graphics then any movie I have ever seen. And, when I wake up in the morning I won't even feel how bad it hurts so move fast like this. A Win-win situation.

The man who had been bleeding second's before was covered in fur, and looked like a wolf! I guess I should have expected this, because I have had other dreams with mythical creatures in them but none had had this much detail.

"That isn't a very good look for you, Sir," I said, holding back a smirk, and knowing that if I were awake I would never say something so rude.

He growled, and then turned his back slowly to me. "He's already seen me. We have to kill him. Is anyone going to help me?" the Wolf- Man said. Several others stepped forward, and they too began growing hair at an inhuman rate. God, this was going to be a nice dream to tell my wife over breakfast.

I paid attention to the process this time, and I put all of my thoughts into a Tupperware to look at later, once I woke up. First it was the eyes, they narrowed, and turned a predatory yellow, and then the hair grew so fast that it was almost impossible to watch it lengthen. Their nails grew out, until they were claws, and their hands size doubled. Their noses grew out, and their mouth followed, until it was like a dogs. The final thing was that their bodies muscle seemed to triple in size, and I knew that even if I had only one of these things to deal with I couldn't do it, not even in my prime fitness, during boot camp.

He rounded on me. "Last chance…" I hardly understood what he said because the mixture between a growl and regular talking was so far off.

I shook my head, "You wouldn't kill me," I stated flatly, hoping that I was right, even if this was just I dream, I wasn't ready to die yet, not even here.

He raised his clawed hand back, and swung for me. I tried to duck, but not even in my dreams could I move faster them this guy. The pain in my arm felt like I had shaved off the skin, and then run a knife through the bloody paths the razor left.

I screamed out in pain. One man in the back who had stayed human looked at me with the need for a kill in his eyes. I realized that I was happy; happy that I hadn't told them where to find those kids, because they were so young, and I would hate to be responsible for their deaths, even in unconsciousness.

And then I was surrounded. Everywhere I looked I saw more upright wolves. They were coming in through the front door. Even though I couldn't count them, I knew that there was well over 50.

One raised his foot back, and when he started to kick forward, someone stopped him. "Wait, remember, he isn't as tough as them bird kids, be gentle," he sneered, looking at me when he said be gentle. What did he mean, bird kids? I thought that they were looking for those young folks who came in here yesterday…

He smashed his foot into my side and I grunted in pain. From there everything went in a blur. I remember when he slashed me with his claws, and then he popped my fingers out of their joints, but I forced my mouth to remain closed, I was not giving away those children's location. If this was being gentle, then what would he do to them?

Finally they stopped. "Ok, if you don't think that your life is worth telling for, whose is? Your granddaughter maybe?" he asked.

My heart stopped. They couldn't do that to my baby. I don't know what was taking her so long, but I was sure glad that the dumpster was 3/4 of a mile away.

"No," I rasped out, not sounding nearly as strong was I had earlier this morning. "Leave her out of this," I begged.

"Then where are they?" the man who had remained a man, by force or choice I wasn't sure, said.

"They went behind the store, and after that I don't know," I said, feeling like I was dying. I had no doubt that this was a real life thing now, I wasn't dreaming, and I felt horrible giving away where they went, but I hope that my ignorance as to where they went may save them. I don't really know where they left to, but I hoped that it was far away.

Maybe they changed directions, I hope they did.

The wolf man grinned. He began to change back to a man, and for that I was grateful. Now I could read his expressions at least.

"Thanks for your help, but you will still die," he growled once he was almost changed back, but even then his voice had a hint of what he was in it.

I had expected this, but again, I wasn't ready to die. I wouldn't die if I could help it.

He pulled out a gun. Again, I had expected this, and decided to mock him. If he was going to kill me anyhow, then I may as well.

"Not very original now are we?" I joked, knowing that this was the straw that would break the camel's back. He would shot me soon; I could see it in his eyes. I knew that I was going to die, but I felt oddly detached from that fact. Odd.

What he did I hadn't expected. I heard the sound of a gun, and then felt a searing pain in my knees. I screamed in pure agony, hoping that Alicia would hear and come running before these _things_ left.

He grinned, enjoying my pain, and fired again, hitting my other knee. I couldn't help but feeling that I deserved this, because I put one life over six. That was wrong, but that is how people worked. They put they're friends lives over random strangers lives. They would kill five strangers to save a brother, or a sister, or a mother or father.

So what I did was normal, but still wrong. I didn't deserve to die but I did deserve to get punished.

I selfishly hoped that they would kill me quickly, because then I wouldn't have to feel anything anymore, no guilt, or sadness. That would be so welcome.

The leader pulled a lighter out of the now smashed counter, and put it next to me, "the very same one that that boy bought yesterday. You are right. He wasn't a murderer. But once your body is found, he will be… by legal standards anyhow," he smirked.

It hit me like a ton of bricks; they were going to frame the kids from yesterday. They were innocent but were going to get in trouble for this!

I opened my mouth to shout at them that that was wrong, but just then another shot was fired, right at my left shoulder.

Then at my right. I couldn't move, I just lay there, crumpled in pain, willing my heart to keep beating.

"And for good measure," he said, and kicked me so hard in the head that everything went black. At that moment I knew that I couldn't fight this anymore. I allowed the darkness to take over my vision fully. I could feel my heart slow down, and I knew it was over. I was going to die.

Goodbye Alicia, goodbye Frannie, goodbye Sammy Jo, Josephine, Matthew, Luke, Simon, Peter, Paul, Wyatt, Nathan, Dylan, and Avan. I love you all, was my last thought before I lost all sense of reality.

**A/N omfg i am so sorry that it took so long to post! i was grounded for saying something stupid to my dad, and i have had major writers block. i just got this back from my beta, who checked over it immediately. so give a thanks to Miz636. and check out her story too, its great. it is called Old and New Collide. **

**So ya... and i hope that you will review, jsut becasue that would make me write so much faster for the next chapter. so review unless you want another 3 week wait. (again sorry)**

**and don't forget to look at MFINGA's story, Dirty Little Secret. it is wonderful, and progressing amazingly. so ya... and i am now done rambling so .........**

**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW**

**and if you still don't get the point, then you have no bussiness on fanfiction, cuz you are braindead. so review, unless you want me to have a very bad opinion about you. **

**ok, that was mean, but hell, it wasnt as bad as making you wait for 3 weeks for a new chapter so get over it. thank you! and i love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**:}**

* * *

_Mostly for Americans, just because it is from an Americans prospective on the war on terror_

Also... one more thing that i have to get out there... i do not support or De-support the war on Iraq. i dont have enough info about it to feel one way or another about it, with... evidence to back up whatever i claim. any-who... K so back when the Vietnam war was going on, some of the Americans hated all the soldiers because they felt that we shouldn't be over in Vietnam. they wanted all of the American soldiers to die. i don't know if people feel that strongly about this war on Iraq, but i do know that those men and women who are fighting, are our countrymen! we should support them and there health, even if we don't support their cause. again... back when the Vietnam was going on, people felt that it was the most important war in history. i personally feel that that would be the Independence war where we broke away from England... but fuck now i am getting off topic. back to the point... in 50 years this war will just be another one that we are learning about, and weather we fought it for good reasons or not... it will be something that the school kids learn about. if they learn also about how the part of America that doesn't support the war had some that felt that our soldiers should die... don't you think that that would give our generation a bad reputation? i do. so anyhow... i think that weather or not you agree with being over in Iraq, Afghanistan, and where ever the hell else we are, you should at the very least hope that all of the men and women fighting get back safely. now, if for some reason something that i have said pisses you off, then pm me, and i will explain why i said/typed that or you can flat out bitch me out. this is how i feel, and i hope that you agree that the lives of Americans are important enough that you want those who risk there lives for our safety to come home safely. i think that i overused safely in that last sentence... but again, oh well. so ya... now i am done with my rant...


	18. One on One time

One on One time

Max's pov

Once I explained everything that had happened yesterday morning to my mom I began to start wondering about what really had happened to Harold. I knew that there was no way that I would ever know the truth for certain, but I knew that it had something to do with the flock.

Someone must have spotted us going into the store, and Itex found out about it. So I wonder if he died because he was a witness to the erasers, or he just got in the way, or… as sick as it is it may just be because one of the erasers were bored. I shuddered at the thought, knowing that it very well may be true.

After we got in the house, I gave my mom a pointed look, and then looked at Fang with the same look, so he knew what was going on. I angled my head towards Gazzy, and then looked at my mom again, signaling that I needed to talk to her about Gazzy. She looked confused, but before anyone noticed, she had cleared her expression. I was proud that she seemed to be so in touch with me that she knew that she didn't need to worry, but she also knew to keep it quiet.

Just like a real mom should.

She told us that she was going to run out to the store for food, and then she would be right back. Tonight, we were having pork chops, mashed potatoes, French fries, and the dessert was a secret. Obviously it wouldn't be chocolate chip cookies because we already had those, (we wolfed them down in minutes, even when the batch was tripled) and I expected that my mom would try to make the best dessert ever for us. She was just that great.

While she was gone, Ella, Nudge, and I went into Ella's room. She had promised that she wouldn't mention what I told her earlier to anyone, so I believed her. I was still nervous that she might be really obvious about it, but I had to trust her… or I would be crawling up the walls in anticipation.

Ella didn't even have a chance to get one word out, because before the door was swinging shut, Nudge felt the overwhelming need to talk. Joy.

"Gosh this is so cool! Do we get to talk about normal stuff now? Like how do you like school? Normal school I mean, not the sick messed up kind we were at. I bet that Max told you guys all about that. I feel like it was years ago when I saw you after the bomb exploded. Remember, when Max talked to the Congress about Global Warming, and then we ordered pizzas. Then at the last second, we ducked 'cause someone noticed the wire sticking out of one of the boxes. That could have ended badly. Do you remember? I sure as heck do," she sucked in a breath and started again, "So if your 12 then you are older then me. I am only 11 but my birthday, the one that I made up I mean, is in a few months. So I will be as old as you then. I look older, because I am so much taller, but all of us are tall. Have you noticed how much Iggy has grown since last time you saw him? I guess Fang has grown too, but Iggy grew tallest. Max is pretty tall, but I don't think that she grew tall like them in the last few months," that was where I interrupted her, and with a look, she shut her trap.

"Thank the lord," Ella muttered, itching her ears dramatically. I smiled at her, happy that she wasn't completely annoyed with Nudge. I was really starting to realize how much Nudge has grown.

She was more mature now then ever before. She still talked like no other, but she was better at restraining herself when it was not the time to talk. She smiled guiltily at me, and then said, quite shortly I might add, "Sorry, I will let you guys talk without interrupting now."

I don't know why Ella and I found this so funny, but we did. We burst out laughing, and Nudge nervously chuckled. Once she saw that we weren't mad, she too started to laugh hysterically.

We laughed until we had tears streaming down our faces, and I realized then that this was the kind of time I needed, time to just laugh and not care that Itex was after us. Not care that they were killing who ever and whom ever to get to us. Not care that I had no clue how to do what I was born to do. Not care that I seemed to be falling for my best friend, who I had grown up with. Shit, I did not just think that!

Once we had all sobered up from our laughing high, I smiled at Nudge, "I don't mind right now Nudge. I needed a good laugh. And I'm sure that Ella remembers the pizza bomb. That was probably the only real life bomb she has seen," when I looked at Ella for conformation, she nodded.

Nudge gasped, "Iggy will be so disappointed. According to him and Gazzy, that bomb was only around a 5 on a scale of 1-10; 10 being the best. I won't tell them that though, or they will find a way to show you a 7 or better," she added with a look from me.

Nudge, Ella and I talked about mostly normal things, and Ella explained middle school to us. She was young for being a seventh grader. She liked it a lot in some ways, but hated it in others. She said that girls were so vicious! She told me that guys hit each other and are done with it, but girls will rag on your appearance, the way you talk, walk, dress, and any other thing that they don't like. It really takes a huge hit to your self confidence. I wondered if people were doing that to her, and when I brought this up, she denied it.

I still would ask later, and if she told me one name… or an address… well it wouldn't be pretty. She was my sister, and no one, and I mean no one messes with my family. Ask the German Itex plant, see what happened to them? Well they messed with me. I am not saying that I will kill the world if they hurt me, but if they hurt my family, I will _try_ to get them back. I have a problem with revenge…

We talked for another hour or so, until the heard the mini-van pull up into the driveway. A mini-van was so mom-ish I almost smiled. I left Ella's room, where Nudge and Ella continued talking, and went to help unload.

When I walked out the door, Mom was still opening the back door. She was fumbling with the keys, and I didn't know why. She turned to me and whispered "Is everything ok with the Gasman?" I nodded, and replied,

"Ill tell you later." Mom had gotten plastic bags, and so I grabbed the handles, and slid them up to my elbows. I continued to force more and more onto each arm, until nothing but the 4 six packs of Pepsi were left. Mom had taken 3 bags in, and I had the rest on my arm. I wanted to empty out the back of the van, so I wouldn't have to make a separate trip, so I grabbed 2 six packs in one hand, and put one of the handles in between my teeth and put the other on my thumb. My left hand was already full, and I couldn't hold any more.

I started hobbling into the house, and when I got to the door, I faced my biggest challenge yet; opening it. I wasn't really able to talk, so I had to just grunt. After two grunts Fang came to the door looking at me like he didn't even know me anymore. I tried to smile, but nearly dropped the Pepsi in my mouth. Fang held the door open for me, but didn't bother to offer to help.

When I got into the kitchen and was just about to round the corner, I felt like my arms were going to get ripped from their sockets.

I dropped all the Pepsis onto the counter, and then my arm with the lighter load, I swung up so it landed on the counter. Dr. Martinez walked in and gave me a funny look, and then started unloading the bags that she had brought in. I used my left hand, the empty one, and grabbed my right wrist. It used both arms to pull up my one arm. Once I got all of those groceries off I turned to find Fang still in the doorway. The most shocking part… he was smiling slightly.

I stopped walking, and tried to arrange my face so that it seemed like I was just like 'ya ok, Fang was smiling, big deal' when I really wasn't.

I started walking again, over to my mom. "Hey mom, do you need help?"

"I think I got it. You brought it in, I will unload," she said looking at me pleasantly. Oh my god, did I really just say the word pleasantly? Ok, what the hell is wrong with me? I have never said that word, and I am right now promising myself I will never say it again!

I nodded, and walked out the door, brushing past Fang on my way. He followed me out to the front porch, where I planned on soaking up some sun, because you know, we aren't outside all day or anything like that.

I turned on him when we got outside. "Thanks for all your help with the food," I smirked, not really caring in the slightest, but wanting to at smirk him. He would know that I didn't care either, I don't ask for help… unless I am going to like… die if I don't get it.

"I just enjoyed seeing you struggle," he replied lightly. My mouth dropped open.

"Maybe you should have let me get the door for myself then!" I stage shouted, in mock disbelief.

He shrugged. Back to not talking are we? "Do you need my laptop?" Nope, guess not.

He noticed my look of confusion and rolled his eyes. "For looking up restaurants…," he said, like I was some idiot.

"Oh no. I got that covered," lies "I planned on just asked Mo-Dr. Martinez for the best ones around," I lied smoothly. I didn't want him to know that I had kind of forgotten that we needed a place to eat, not just nice clothes. Heavy clothes, very heavy clothes.

"Sure you did," he smirked; knowing that I didn't plan that in the slightest, it was an 'off the top of your head' kind of thing.

"You know, it's pretty amazing how you do that," Fang whispered, catching me completely off my guard.

"Ummm… what?" I stuttered. Talking about emotions, like me being amazing, was NOT my thing.

"How you can just pull stuff out of your ass and make it sound good so the kids feel safe," he clarified. I was going to yell at him for his language, but really for a nearly 15 year old boy, if the worst thing he is doing is saying ass, then I am happy. And plus, no one was around to hear it. If he started swearing around Gazzy and Angel then we would have a talk… that consisted of me screaming, and him taking it, for fear of his _life_. No joke.

"Erm… I am glad you think so?" I replied, making it very awkward. "Sorry, this is awkward."

His lips quirked up at the corners, and he turned and walked back inside. What is with him? He comes out here and makes it all awkward and then walks away, like he doesn't even notice it.

It was getting to be dinner time, and I had just been watching TV with Gazzy for the last hour. We watched Myth Busters, because he liked to see how the explosions turned out. Great, just what we needed, for him to start mixing stuff and see what happens.

"I'm not gonna go all safety freak on ya, Gaz, but that could kill you. Don't mix stuff like that please?" I asked, so that he wouldn't go into his natural boy-shell. Guys get freaked when you talk about safety, so I was hoping to avoid that, because he is like my kid… I raised him, but didn't have him. I didn't want to get all mom-ish, even though it was nice to have my mom, I couldn't let myself seem that… venerable? No, that wasn't the term, my mom was tough and I knew it, just she didn't seem like she could kick your ass in a fight, and I had to seem like that, all the time, so that everyone in the flock felt safe.

He smiled at me, telling me that I did ok, he wasn't freaked, and he understood what I meant. Thank the Lord!

"Ok Max, I promise that."

"DINNERS READY!!!" I heard from the kitchen. I turned to look back at Gazzy, but he was already halfway across the room, racing for the kitchen.

I got up, and yelled to him, "I am SO going to beat you!" just as I raced past him. I didn't use my super speed, or I would break down the walls, but I did maybe use just a bit of it…

Right as I was plowing past Gasser, I felt something pull at my arm. I faltered for a moment, and then realized that Gazzy was holding my wrist, and trying to push past me. Cheater!

I grinned, picked him up, and ran backwards so that I still got there first. When I sat down, I had a triumphant grin on my face, I was sure, and he was pouting.

The rest of the flock arrived, Ella and Nudge walked in together. They all looked at Gazzy and me funny, other then Iggy, who just waltzed in and sat down, not noticing that anything was going on. Everyone else eventually followed his lead, but still wanted to know what had made me so happy.

We had a nice dinner, while Ella talked about how last time she went to her Aunts house, my Aunt too, they argues about table salt. **(A/N this is my true experience. They argue on whether or not it was good on more food then Pepper. And by argue, I mean scream. But it's my Dad's side)** Apparently my mom's sister was nothing like her. She was picky, and rude, and never had anything good to say. And she hated Ella and my mom, but Ella doesn't know why. All of my mom's family is apparently like that, but somehow my mom isn't. Again, thank the Lord.

After dinner, my mom brought out strawberry shortcake. Well, three actually, but same difference. Let me tell you, those ones made by hostess are nothing compared to these homemade ones. My mouth was watering, and when I was full, and I mean _full_, I had to stop.

We all went into the living room and after a few minutes my mom stood up stretched, and then asked me to come outside with her for a heart to heart chat. I knew that it was about what I needed to tell her that she knew I needed to tell her, so I gave Fang a look telling him to follow as soon as he could without raising suspicion.

We got outside, and my mom turned to me, "So what is it?" she asked.

"Well, it was Fang's idea so he can tell you. He'll be here in a few minutes. How have you been since the last time I saw you?" I asked her, in an attempt to get conversation going until Fang got here.

She smiled at my lame attempt at conversation, but answered my question, "It's been good. I'm trying to teach Ella to cook, but it isn't working. I am a horrible teacher, I know all the technical terms so that isn't working out very well. Maybe Iggy could help her. He can make pure nastiness taste eatable."

"Well no, not really. Desert rat, and even snakes once, even he couldn't make those taste eatable. We waited a day and a half before eating them, when we thought that we were going to die if we didn't eat soon. Those were the really bad times though, it only got like that once, for a day or two," I lied, noticing the concern etched onto her face.

"You know that you can come back whenever. I don't care what follows you here, just come back," she said, dead serous. I could never put her in danger like that. "I took hunting lessons a month or so ago, and then I bought a few guns. If I needed to, I could join the army as a sharpshooter. Come back, I can always help you, Max," she said, rising from my mom, to my 'protector'. I think she was exaggerating about the sharpshooter from her tone of voice, but you never know.

My mouth dropped to the floor. "Mom, are you sure that's the best idea, hiding guns?" I asked her, trying to swallow my revulsion for guns, knowing that they could save lives; lives that I cared deeply for.

"Ella knows where they are. She won't accidentally reach for them. If she needs them, she knows how to use them, she isn't as good as me, but if she aims for the torso, she will hit it. The torso is where you aim if you can't shoot as good, because it is the largest part of the body. She used to hunt with her dad before he… died," she uttered the last word and I saw her eyes fill with tears.

I was pretty terrible with tears, and normally when I dealt with them, it was from pain, and they quickly dried up. I didn't know if these were the same. I hugged her hard, and patted her back. I hadn't heard this story before, but I suppose it wasn't something she told everyone to get sympathy, or it just hadn't come up before.

"He was a great man. He was actually a fireman. He died one day putting out a fire that was set by some teenagers who were just messing around. It got out of hand, and when he got there, and went in, the building collapsed. They looked for him, but he was in the basement trying to look for the dogs that were kept down there at night. By the time they found him, he had burned alive," she was fighting sobs, I knew it, and by now I was too. How was it fair that he died because someone else made a mistake? How could Itex plan to kill people like the Martinez's when without them in this world, it would crumble?

As I was hugging her, I saw a shadow move behind her, coming from the side of the house.

I let go of her and lunged for the shadow, with my fists clenched, ready to pummel anyone who dared threaten my Mother. I knocked them to the ground, and heard a muffled 'oomph' when they fell. Good.

I landed on top of them, and noticed that their back was facing me when I tackled them; I pulled my fist back, and then heard a deep voice calmly say, "Relax Max. It's me. And ouch, thanks for that," as soon as he spoke, I knew it was Fang. Great.

I jumped up, and held my hand out for him. "Sorry," I muttered, embarrassed, and knowing that I was blushing all the different shades of red, making me even more embarrassed.

He took my hand, pulled me to the ground and stood up; "We're even," then he offered me his hand. I didn't take it, instead I got up on my own, and walked over to my mom, whose tears had dried up, but still left streaks of salt water down her face, which she was furiously rubbing away.

"I think Iggy knows I came out here. I was making sure he didn't follow," he looked at me accusingly, and I grinned at him. "Sorry, Dr. Martinez, if I scared you," he said so quietly I wasn't sure if she would have been able to hear him.

"It's fine. I didn't even see you till you were already on the ground," she replied looking at me with a tenderness that didn't fit what she said. She was talking about me tackling someone, and was proud of me. This was my kind of mom, and luckily enough, she was _my_ mom.

"So what is this about?" she asked, looking from me to Fang, and back, like she thought it had something to do with us.

"Gazzy's birthday is June 14," Fang said shortly, when he realized that I was waiting for him to talk.

"And we want to take him to dinner, a nice fancy place. Do you want to come with us, you and Ella I mean?" I questioned her, knowing that Fang had used up his word limit for the day.

"We wouldn't get in the way?" mom asked me, looking excited to be a part of this, but not like she wanted to intrude.

"Nope," I said, popping the 'p.' "And where is a good place to go. Kind of fancy, but not suit and tie fancy?" I asked, hoping that she would know but not sure if she ever bothered with places like that.

She grinned. "Yup, I know a place. It is called 'Porterhouse.' It is basically a steakhouse, with really good food. And the portions are just under your guy's size. We could go to an ice cream parlor, and then come home for cake and ice cream. That should fill you all up…" she trailed off, talking more to herself than us. It looked like she was doing calculations in her head on if we would really be full or not.

"That will work. Thanks mom. Let's get back in there now. And is tomorrow night ok? Don't tell anyone, just tell Ella to dress nice for it."

"Tomorrow will be fine. I am on call for work, but it will be fine, I can still come, nothing ever needs attention that fast around here," she said, looking at Fang. "You will need to go back in through the window in the laundry room."

He scrunched his eyebrows for a second, when did he say he came out through there? "Mom, how did you know that's how he got out?" I asked, not needing to ask if that was how Fang got out. He wouldn't have seemed confused for a second if he didn't.

She smirked. "I'm a single mother, I know things." Fang and I exchanged a look with each other, and then she laughed. "Ok fine, that is the only window that doesn't have fire ants under it. Where you would land on them. I didn't plant them, they just settled there!" she defended, with a look.

"Sure, sure. I bet they did mom," I said, holding back a laugh at the mental image of Fang jumping around trying to escape the evil clutches of fire ants.

She grinned, and after Fang jump lithely off the porch, she opened the door and walked inside.

I followed her in, to find Nudge asleep on Iggy's shoulder and Angel asleep on Nudges shoulder, with Gazzy's feet spread across Iggy, who looked like he had smelled something bad, and was wide awake. Hum, I wonder what that bad smell was, possibly a certain someone's feet.

He heard us come in, "Can you move the Gasser, and Angel. I'll get Nudge and put them in the bedroom to go to sleep. They were really tired. Angel was out before you guys even left. You too Fang," he said, tilting his head behind him, where Fang was trying to sneak up on him. Ya right. "Get Gazzy."

He nodded. "I'm nodding," he said in his usual quiet voice.

Heck no, I was not just going to take the lightest kid, like some wimpy marshmallow. I gave him a look and he raised his eyebrows at me, saying 'just take her; you don't want to wake up everyone.' I shook my head, and he frowned but picked up Gazzy anyway. Now it was my turn to frown.

Fang sighed, and held Gazzy at arms length, offering him to me. I reached out for him, and just as I was about to grab him, he stirred, opening his eyes. He blinked once, focused on Fangs face, and then curled up tiredly against Fangs wide chest.

I sighed. If Fang was ok with Gazzy, then I wasn't going to fight it.

I turned to Iggy, he was my next sexist pig victim.

"I'll hold up Angel, and take Nudge. You get Angel," I whispered so quietly that if it was anyone but Iggy, they wouldn't have heard.

"If you're ok with waking everyone up, then that will work perfectly," he was only slightly louder then me, and I barely heard him. When I did, I knew he was right.

I subdued a groan of defeat, and swallowed my pride, grabbing Angel.

I grabbed Angel, and she was still fast asleep when I laid her on the pull out couch that was in the attic-turned-spare-room. A minute later Iggy came up, carrying Nudge, and he laid her next to Angel, and turned to me.

I grabbed his hand, and lead him downstairs, and into the living room. "So you weren't even going to tell me that you planned on having a birthday thing for Gazzy?" he asked, faking rage.

"I figured you heard. Don't say anything. And yes, you were not going to know until everyone else knew too," I said, not bothering to lie to him.

He smiled, knowing that I was telling the truth, and that he would be in the dark just like everyone else.

Total had come back, he said that they were just taking a walk, and I wasn't sure how I was going to get him into a fancy restaurant. I figured that I could tell him that he and Akiela would have a dinner and a movie or something, and it would be date night for them. That would probably work. He was much more agreeable with her around.

I talked to Iggy for a few more minutes, and I realized that he knew more then I gave him credit for. Sure he was good at mixing chemicals, I always knew that, but somewhere along the line, he had learned _why_ certain things made big booms when they mixed. I was immensely proud. Apparently, that is the same reason he can cook. He knows what mixes well together, and what heat it cooks good at.

He was one smart pyro-maniac. No matter what Ter Bortch said, back when we first met him, this flock would not still be here without Iggy. Ter Bortch had said that nothing went right with Iggy. In my opinion, everything had. He was the perfect brother. **(A/N This is strictly platonic. This is fax, not Miggy. Don't worry. I just want to show the **_**friendship**_**)**

I wanted to tell him how Gazzy would be destroyed if he left us, how we all would, but I couldn't. It was not easy to pour my heart out, especially not to the older part of the Flock. Angel and Gazzy were easier, but still difficult. Not so much Angel, she was pretty easy, because you can't really hide things from a telepath.

So instead I just said goodnight, and found Fang. Fang and I went back into the living room, and stacked fists with Iggy, and then he went to sleep. The couch was a little bit too short, he was now around 6'5" but this room didn't have curtains. He would be the only one not bothered by the light. And trust me, a couch that is slightly too short is better than most places we have slept before.

"Hey Fang, if you wanted, you could try to get a way to come up with a way to get everyone dressed, but not suspicious because I thought about it, and I am coming up blank," I said, just was we were about to part for the night.

I went to bed feeling super excited, but also feeling… apprehensive? No, that isn't what I'm looking for. I just didn't want erasers to show up and ruin our trip. That would upset Gazzy so much, if they busted in on his birthday dinner, or ice cream, or cake and ice cream.

I guess seen as how I haven't yet developed the ability to see the future I will have to wait until tomorrow to see how it turns out.

**(A/N) Just like all of you! Ha ha ha, suckers! Unless of course I get a jigungo amount of reviews… then you might get the chapter early… but you will all have to wait and see!**

**so please review, and help to make the pain of VERY LONG & HARD workout sessions go away. thank you!**

**and as for all of you who are asking about the multiple plots, they will all tie together... and i mean all of them. **


	19. Porterhouse pt 1

Chapter 18

Fang's pov

When Max went up the stairs taking Angel to bed, I sat there in a stunned silence. Gazzy had chosen me over Max once before, and I knew that he regretted it the entire time he was with me. Max was basically his mom. He didn't care that she wasn't blood related to him, she was the one who kept him alive, and he would always know that. When Ari had been with Max though, he couldn't stay with them.

He had come with me. The first day he was fine. The second, I knew that he missed Max, and Angel. He missed Nudge too, just not quite as much as Angel. Even though he was only eight, he felt that it was his job to keep his sister safe. He couldn't do that from across the world.

He had left his sister, and with a monster at that. The thing that he had come with me to escape, his sister was still with. And so was his 'mother' figure. It was eating him up, especially when he saw that they were in trouble and that they had been captured, chained to a wall, and were going to have to fight with super boy who was supposed to be undefeated; and undefeatable.

Now I had nothing against Ari, he had spent his dying days trying to protect Max when I couldn't possibly have gotten there in time if she had needed help right then. In his dying moment, literally, he was covering her back. Like_ I_ usually did.

If he hadn't been there, in that final fight, she may have been hurt. He saved all of us when we were in a cage, and hurt himself in the process, wrecking his face even more then it already was. Then, he backed her up when she needed it.

When we had went to that meeting with the government a week or so before we went to Antarctica, I had saw about 45 seconds of a video of Max fighting in Germany. In the last 10 seconds, Max ran to Ari, seeing he was dead. But before that, she was kicking major flyboy ass. But even then, when she was at her prime in fighting, she couldn't take down anything that came at her from behind. Ari was on the far left of the screen, and he was fighting like not only did his life depend on it, but so did the world. I didn't think that he would be loyal, there was no reason, and he was going to die soon. But he was just as loyal as I would have been, and I never got the chance to thank him.

I set Gazzy down on the bed that he was going to sleep in, and turned walking silently out of the door. I stood still for a moment, and felt the slight change run through my body, telling me that I was invisible. I walked with exaggerated slowness, practicing so that eventually I would be able to move and still stay invisible.

I got to my room, only changing back to visibility once, and laid down, ready for a long nights sleep, because God knows that with the kids on sugar high from all the cake and ice cream they were going to eat tomorrow, we wouldn't get to sleep until late.

I fell asleep quickly, and dreamed of what I normally dream of. Max and I; if I wasn't so messed up, and could actually show how I felt, and her: if she wasn't so fucking stubborn. We walked through the woods, and Iggy was in charge of the flock. We were taking a walk to 'go get water.' We had actually gotten two buckets last time we went, so we just wandered, and were going to pick up the second bucket right before we got back, so there would be no questions.

I woke up slowly, not really sure if I even fell asleep. I looked at the clock. 6:30. Yup, I fell asleep, for a good 7 hours.

I got up, stretched, and got in the shower; I never know when we have to leave, so we may as well be clean when we do, because who knows when we will get to shower next? I don't, and if you do, do tell.

I turned on the laptop, which was making a groan/warring noise, and I knew that this laptop was about to 'expire'. I hadn't updated my blog in a long time and I was getting tons of messages asking if I was ok. I decided to update it, and answer some more questions, but not all the stupid ones, like 'where can we get wings?' or 'are you single?'

**June 14, 6:58 AM**

**Yo, Fang here. I am alive, no worries. The flock has been busy, and I just haven't had much time. We are still in the south, but that's all you're getting from me. **

**Flock update. Gazzy's birthday is today. We are celebrating, but until we do I am not telling you how. He will be 9. **

**Nudge, Angel, Iggy, well… there all fine, not great, but together and alive. **

**Max… well if you're reading, don't kill me for this. She got hurt in a fight with a clone of that perfect German fighter. They made him better; they took out all his faults, and numbed his pain receptors. He is unbeatable. He cornered Max, and I couldn't help her. I was stuck with 50 or so erasers. Which, by the way, are back. It is too expensive for Itex to make flyboys when they are easier to defeat. So they are back to erasers, which are more graceful flying, but still somewhat predictable. Back to the story, Max got her butt kicked, but she didn't give up. If Omega 2 had been a normal guy, who feels pain, let's just say he would still groan at the thought of what happened. So she is better now, and I am better too. Thanks bird healing!**

**For all who are asking, I am not telling you our plan. Yes we have one, but you are not going to know. It is not to fight Global Warming; we are done with that for now. **

**Now, just so you know, if you ask where we are, I am not telling you. Don't waste your time or mine. Does it matter if I'm single? I am always on the run, but I do have a girl waiting back in my hometown for me. No, I lied. I don't, but I don't want a girlfriend, so don't ask. And for you guys don't even ask about Max. You don't know her at all. You have heard of her, but you don't know her. You have seen pictures, and that is what you are going by. I am sick of questions asking if she is 'available' because she isn't. She is busy saving the world. Back off for a few years until she is done with all this shit. Thank you. **

**To **_**. **_**– No, we are not in Manhattan. We have been there, done that. Not going back. I don't know what you saw flying over your house, but it wasn't us. **

**To **_**La_Push_cliff_divers**_**- Sure campfires pollute the world, so yes, at night we do pollute. But you know what? I think that we deserve to do something for the good of us for once, because we are out saving your butt day and night, often getting hurt ourselves. If you want to get on my back for that, then you are seriously messed up. So I am not saying it is ok to pollute, because if we had another way to get light, heat, and a safe feeling then we would use it. We are paranoid, so I am sorry that it is nice to not feel like you are going to get thrown into a cage any second. If you have any more questions as to why we do what we do, shove it up your ass. Thank you **

I signed off, astonished that people would actually call me a hypocrite because I have campfires. Seriously, they aren't that bad for the environment, compared with using electricity, and drinking water bottles. I was trying to be nice to her, even though she didn't deserve it, her question was more rude then even I get. Well… most of the time anyways.

I heard Dr. Martinez get up, and I wasn't really sure if we had asked her to make Gazzy's cake. Iggy couldn't, because it was his job to distract Gazzy today.

I walked down stairs, and saw Dr. Martinez rummaging through the cupboards, and grabbing some cake mixes. She turned at the last second, with her hand over her heard.

"You scared me!" she whispered.

I tried to look apologetic. "Can you make Gazzy's cake?" I asked her, feeling uncomfortable asking her for so much. Not only a place to stay, but also for her to cook and feed us too.

"I was planning on it. Max already asked me. I'll go to my sister in laws and make it there. No suspicion. I got the morning off," she said, looking smug at her accomplishment.

"Thanks," I muttered, and as I turned to walk away, she called my name.

"Do you know what kind of cake is Gazzy's favorite?" she asked, like she really cared if he had his favorite cake.

I smiled halfway; "No clue," the last time he had a cake, was around 2 years ago, a year before we had to leave the E-shaped house. I was sure that he would like it either way, we all would. It is hard to ruin a cake, especially when you can cook like Dr. Martinez.

"Well, I was thinking confetti, with vanilla frosting, and a chocolate with fudge frosting. I'll make the chocolate one bigger, because I know how Max likes chocolate, so I'm assuming you all do?" she questioned, and I almost smiled at how well she knew her mom, even if she had only knew her for a few months, if that. Out of those months, they had maybe spent 3 weeks together, and that was a stretch.

It must be hard for Max, knowing her mom, but not being able to see her all the time.

I knew that even if I found my mom and dad, I would not go live with them. I don't even think that I would go and see them. Unless they lived within 20 minutes of here, it would be pointless. I would miss Max and the flock so much. If we ever find out, even after we are done saving the world, then I will just get a job, and live around here, where Max will live, I'm sure. I turned and left the room, after a nod telling Dr. M that she was right about the chocolate. We all loved it, but to have something vanilla with it that would be like heaven.

I walked up the stairs into the room that Gazzy and I were sharing, and grabbed shorts, changing into them. It was June in Arizona, and I was hot! Then I grabbed my laptop, and went on remax (dot) com, clicked on search, in New Mexico, with was far enough away that Itex wouldn't be lead to the Martinez's and that we could fly there in a few hours.

I found this property that was perfect. It had some slight mountains, 38 aches, and no house, just property. We wouldn't be buying, obviously, but we would be _using_ it.

Suddenly I felt the sensation of being watched, and I went on hyper-alert. After just seconds I realized that it was Max or someone else in the flock. The gaze wasn't sinister. I turned around, making it look like I was stretching, and saw a dirty blond head disappear behind a tree. Max

I was debating on what to do. Should I scare her when she gets closer or should I just ignore her, and not let her scare me? I went with the first. I still had to get her back for tackling me the other night.

I was not expecting it, not at all, and she attacked me from behind. If that was any girl but Max, I would have been shocked that she so easily knocked me to the ground. But I knew better, Max wasn't most other girls, and she couldn't take anyone to the ground, just by sheer determination, not sheer force. She wasn't heavy, not to most people, and for you to be 150 pounds and have someone 2/3 of your weight knocking you around, they much have some serous muscle. Which, conveniently enough, she does.

As the seconds crept by, she didn't think that I had spotted her yet, and so she came out from behind the tree, trying to creep up on me. That was my trick and she was not going to steal it.

I could tell that she was getting closer, because I could faintly hear her breathing. I was so used to the sound; I listened to it pretty much every night, so I could judge her distance behind me. She was about 6 feet away. 4 feet away. 3 feet away.

Now was my chance. I whipped my arms out behind me, hitting the point right where her knees bend, and almost knocked her to the ground. Instead she just squatted down a little bit, and then stood up to her full height, grinning. Just then, I swung my legs off to the side and kicked her feet, which knocked my body into hers, which did knock her down. Right onto my stomach.

She landed with a thud right onto my chest.

"Oaf!" I grunted, and she jumped up, and stood up, glaring at me.

"How did you know I was coming?" she demanded. I grinned maliciously.

"You'll never know."

She looked at me, and I watched as she tried to fight a smile. "And how do you expect to be able to keep that from me?" she asked, and I was so shocked at the sound of her voice. She sounded like Lissa, when she was flirting with me, but much much more alluring.

I shrugged nonchalantly, and then pointed at the computer. "Found some good land," silence, "To bomb the erasers…" I said, hoping that she wouldn't go all anti-gun on me again. Guns are great, if the right people have them.

She narrowed her eyes at me, and then her face changed to one of internal debate. "If you don't tell me how you then next time we get attacked, and I can't sneak up on Them, it's your fault. So where is this property?" and I caved. What if Max got hurt because I wanted to joke around with her and not tell her? Then it was my fault. So I told her.

"I got paranoid and 'stretched' and saw your head go behind a tree," I told her, making quotations on stretched so she knew I really didn't stretch.

Then I told her about the property and how it would be perfect for the first ambush, and so we decided to tell Dr. Martinez about our plan, and ask if she would teach us how to shoot a gun. We would ask her tonight.

We got back to the house, and it was about two in the afternoon. Time to start getting ready for Gazzy's birthday dinner… and ice cream… and cake… and them more ice cream. Tonight was going to be fun.

We all got dressed up, and with the help of Angel, well, I think it was with the help of Angel, no one noticed that we were all dressing up, showering, and trying our best to look nice.

We all piled into the car, other then Max and Nudge, and were on our way. Nudge thought that it would be a good idea to make sure that no one followed us to the restaurant, because then the plans would be spoiled. Max decided to go with her plan, and fly above with Nudge. Nudge obviously insisted on going, because, as she put it, it was her idea. So even though I didn't like the idea of them alone up there, with us stuck in this little car, they were up there.

We pulled up to Porterhouse, and sat in the car for several seconds before Gazzy's face lit up. "Today isn't the 14th is it?" he asked without much conviction, because none of us had celebrated a birthday since Jeb had died.

Just then Max knocked on the door, startling us all. I opened the door, and she frantically said, "Guy come on, we have to get in there now! We are 30 minutes late!" and she grabbed my hand and yanked me out of the car.

The kids were out of that car as if we had practiced this move a bunch of times. We never did, they just didn't want to lost our seats. I had told every one before that if we weren't there within 30 minutes of when we scheduled to get there, we would lose our reservations.

We ran in, looking kind of funny, because everyone else was going so slowly, but we really didn't care. We got into the lobby, and walked briskly up to the podium where the hostess was standing. "Reservation for Zephyr," Max's mom said with authority ringing in every syllable. Gazzy looked at Max, shock evident on his face, and then he grinned.

The lady looked down at her black book, where Gazzy looked up at Max, and then very nearly shouted, "Today is the 14th! This was for my birthday!" and hugged her around the middle.

Max ruffled his hair and grinned. "We wouldn't forget Zephyr. Not now," and then she pointed at me and smiled. "I didn't do all of it. My mom helped with lots of plans. Iggy kept you distracted. Fang made sure we got the reservations. I stood around observing and looking pretty," she joked. I didn't think it was a joke, she was pretty.

"Zephyr, party of 8, for 6:30?" the hostess asked politely.

"Yes ma'ma," Ella said, grinning, because this was her favorite restaurant, in like, the whole world! As she had previously stated.

The lady frowned. "Well you are 34 minutes late. Normally I would kick you out, and tell you to be on time if you want us to serve you. But, lucky for you, I am in a good mood, and I can't deny a birthday wish. So, we may have to split you up, your table is already gone, but we will get you all in. is that ok?" she asked, not sounding like it really mattered. If we wanted to stay, we would have to accept her offer. We were told of their policy ahead of time….

Max's mom turned to us. "Well, that will have to work, we can rotate, or something. I guess…" she said, hesitantly, she didn't like it, I could tell, but this was the best she could do. She turned back around. "Thank you. Yes could you please do that?"

The hostess walked us out into an extravagant room with a bunch of old people talking and chatting, all wearing suits. Great.

**A/N Ok guys. No cliffy this time. I was going to put the entire restaurant part in here, but if you want a chapter, then deal with this. I will be posting a one-shot next Monday, when a bunch of kids have school off, including me. **

**The one-shot is about what Fang was really feeling when he flew away from Max, in the third book. It is a song-fic that goes along with the song 'Falls Apart' by thousand foot crunch. Great song, great band. Anyhow, read that, please. I don't know if I will be posting next Thursday, what with exams and everything, but I will try. So if you ALL review, then I just may find the time. Thank you!**

**I love you** **all!**

**this chapter is dedicated to,** _TwilightObsessedOECD_ **becasue she reveiwed to every one of my chapters, even the old ones that no one ever reviews for, when she could have just reviewed for the most recent cahtper and i woudl have been happy. thank you!**

**if you want me to post a chapter saying that my oneshot has been posted, then tell me, in a review. if more then 60% of the reviews tell me they want me to, then i will put up a new chapter, and tell all you guys that i did. if no one wantes me to, then i wont waste you time. so remember, READ AND REVIEW! they go together, thank you!**


	20. Porterhouse pt 2

Porterhouse pt.2

Max's pov

I knew as soon as we walked in that I was underdressed. Everyone but Fang and Iggy were. They both had on dress up pants, and a nice shirt that I have no idea what you call it. It is the kind that goes under a suit coat. They didn't have ties, but they looked nice. Well, Iggy looked nice. Fang looked… well Fang looked the best out of anyone in this restaurant. His black dress shirt had the sleeves rolled up to nearly his elbows, in a casual way that suited him perfectly. They were black, of course, as were the pants.

As for the shoes… well, none of our shoes really matched. We all had on the tennis shoes that we got last time we went clothes shopping. Fangs were black converses; mine were just grey running shoes that were on clearance. All the rest of the flock just had regular used-to-be white tennis shoes from the shoe brand with the kangaroo on them. I am pretty sure they were called 'Puma' but I won't bet on it. My shoes didn't really match my pants, which were grey, and pinstriped. Wow, now I am sounding like Nudge, all fashion smart. That isn't good**. (A/N all of this is on a link towards the bottom of my profile, to a website called 'Fan Fiction' from there, just click on photo gallery. Then click on 'Faximum Ride; accidentally in love' and you will see all of the flocks clothes).**

We were showed to the back of the room, and there were two open tables, one that seemed to be a couples table, and one that was a family table. The family table had room enough for 5, possibly 6 if you really squeezed them in. The other table was made for two and two only. There was no extra space.

"So who sits with who?" Gazzy asked, looking to me for instruction, and on this one; I wished he would ask someone else. How do I split us up? Even if it is just for Gazzy's birthday dinner. This isn't just a birthday dinner; it was one time when we could all sit together, and be like a family that wasn't on the run for our lives every day, trying to stay alive, not really super worried on where we sat at dinner.

I decided that, because it was his birthday, he should choose. And it would take all the pressure off of me…

"It's up to you. It your birthday!" I said, cheerfully. He looked at me skeptically, not thinking that I meant it, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fang smirk. He knew what I was up to.

Gazzy looked around, looking everyone in the face. "Well…," he started, "Ella, Dr. Martinez, Iggy, Angel, Max, Nudge, and Fang can sit here!" he said excitedly, and then counted the fingers her had put up. His smile faltered.

"Gaz, no one will be mad at you. None of us take it personally. Who do you want to sit where?" Iggy said 'looking' at him. There was silence.

"Oh this is ridiculous. Max, Fang, over there. You sit over there," Ella said exasperated, pointing to the lone table. She looked at my face from the corner of her eye, and winked. I continued to glare. She turned away from me, and Gazzy looked at me.

"Is that ok with you Max? I will come to sit with you after we order if you want," he said, looking up at me. Man, he was getting tall. He had to be at least 5 foot now. And he was 9 for Pete's sake!

I smiled at him. It wasn't his fault that I was stuck in a fancy restaurant eating dinner with Fang. "Sure Gaz, that's fine," I ruffled his hair, and walked over to the table, pulled out my chair and sat down. I stared down at the menu, even though I already knew what I wanted. I was getting there biggest stake, with two mashed potatoes. And lemonade with it too, I didn't want any nasty milk though, that was Gazzy and Angels thing. They were the only ones who liked milk. The first time I had milk, it was not really milk. It was glue, with a chemical mixed in that knocked you out. I woke up in a field, surrounded my erasers. That was the first time I had to fight them. Needless to say, I don't drink milk anymore.

Fang looked up to meet my eyes. "This was planned," he said, and then he smirked. "If ya wanted to sit with me so bad, just ask," he said, arrogantly.

I snorted. "Yeah, that was my plan the whole time. If only I would have thought of that one first!" I said sarcastically. He smirked again.

"I knew it," he said. I would have smacked him upside the head if it weren't for the fact that stuff like that would get us kicked out.

I turned my head, and saw Ella making her way over here. That lying traitor! She said she wouldn't say anything. Now he probably knows… that is bad. I don't want Fang to know that I might possibly like him… what would he do with that information?

"Hey guys. Do you know what you want? To eat, that is," she said, looking Fang straight in the eye when she asked him what he wanted. Oh, she was so going to get it! He scrunched his eyebrows, and looked at her funny, but didn't show any signs of comprehension. Good.

Just then a tall blond boy walked over to Ella's table, and Ella got up and rushed over to her table, sitting down, apologizing profusely for walking away. I almost snorted at how different we were, where she apologizes, I would ask them if they had a problem. She must have gotten that from her dad. Or I got mine from my dad… which I sincerely hope that I inherited nothing from him except the X chromosome.

Fang looked back at me. "Hard to believe that you two are sisters," he commented after hearing Ella apologizing repeatedly.

I grinned. "I know. Well we are only half sisters, but still. I wonder what her dad was like," I said aloud, before realizing that I probably shouldn't have brought him up, in case Ella came back over.

Fang cocked his head in a way that said, 'her dad?' he apparently didn't know much about him either.

"He died in a fire when Ella was about 9. He was a fireman, and he went back in the building to get the pets from the basement," I said, giving him the shortened version, because I didn't want to do the whole long drawn out feeling explaining thing. So I didn't.

He nodded in understanding, and then looked up to Ella's waiter who had just come over. "They explain the situation to me. My name is Jacob. So what is it that I can get for you today sir?" he directed at Fang.

"An eighteen ounce porterhouse, medium rare, with a side of two mashed potatoes. Lot of butter on the side too please," Fang ever so loudly said (sarcasm!). The waiter was straining to hear, I could tell. "With Cherry Pepsi to drink."

The man didn't look as shocked as I expected. He had just received a Nudge sized order, so he was expecting this I think. "The biggest filet mignon that you have, with a mashed potato, and a sweet potato, with lemonade to drink, please," I ordered, hoping that I had ordered enough. If not, I could always get a bunch of ice cream and cake after.

The man walked way, and went to place our orders.

"What do you think?" I asked Fang, and then looked pointedly in a circle around the entire restaurant, trying to be less obvious the then regular waving the arm around the restaurant. He picked up on that.

"Seems fine," he said, still tense, so basically it was like any new place we went to. Not welcoming, but not filled with white coats. That was strangely comforting.

"Do you think this was what Gazzy expected?" I asked Fang, worried that us being separated from the rest of our group would ruin it for him.

"He expected to be on the run," Fang said, and I knew that he knew what I meant; he was just being an idiot.

I lowered my chin, and narrowed my eyes, looking at him like, 'so not what I meant, and you know it!' He fought off a smirk.

"I think its going good so far. No erasers," he said, looking at me like that was an accomplishment of mine. I really had no control over when they showed up, but hey, if he was going to look at me like that, and pretend it was my doing, then hell, I'm not going to mess with it.

I smiled at his comment, just 'cause there weren't erasers yet didn't mean anything, unfortunately. As of right now, I had three escape routes; one that no matter what, we could all get through. It was tough to plan them with my mom and Ella unable to fly. That took out flying, because we weren't leaving them, and we would have to fight our way out, on the ground. We were amazing fighters, but we didn't have the mass needed for some moves. It is like putting a 5 foot man against a 7 foot man, both equally trained, the 7 foot would win every time. We were better in the air, because our weight made it easier to move around.

So needless to say, we fought in the air whenever we were confronted. But we would make due on the ground. Fang looked up at me.

"What're your routes?" he asked, looking around, still calculating the best way out if we had to.

"Push the dessert tray into anyone who stands in our way's legs. When the double over, knee their face. Get out however we have to. The windows aren't an option. They drop a good 10 feet. Mom and Ella can't jump that. Doors only," I said, and I knew that even if my plans weren't very thought out, we would make it work. We always do.

Fang nodded. "We got to make sure that," he started, only to get cut off by Gazzy saying,

"This is so great! Thank you for planning this! This is why we had to get nice clothes isn't it?" You could hear the excitement in his voice, and I knew that he really was enjoying this more then just about anything else.

I smiled at him, happy that for once I could do something right, and he was happy. He returned my smile with a full blown grin, that I was worried might rip this cheeks off. I saw Gazzy turn his head to Fang, and grin at him too, and to my immense surprise, Fang smiled back. Gazzy did a double take and so did I. Since when does Fang smile like that?

'Not often enough,' I thought to myself, and then Gazzy practically skipped back to his table, after turning around and thanking us one more time.

I turned to Fang. "It's nice to see them so happy," I commented.

He nodded, and then said, "Are you happy?" His question caught me off guard. Why wouldn't I be happy?

"Sure, we all safe, and together," I answered, wondering why he would even have to ask.

He shook his head. "No, are you happy. Do you like where you are in life?"

I looked at him. In life, well being that I was a mutated freak person, that fact that I wasn't in a cage was enough to make me happy. But I think he meant as a person was I happy. I guess I was, I mean, sure it would be nice to have a home and meals every night, but even that doesn't make a person happy. What makes a person happy is their friends and family. No one was as close as I was with my family, who weren't even technically related to me. That didn't matter, they were still my family.

"Yes. I've got the greatest family in the whole world, and the best, best friend anyone anywhere could have. I'm happy," I said, wondering why I felt a twitch deep inside me when I said 'best friend'. He was my best friend, so why did this bother me?

"Ya, the best, best friend ever," he said, so quietly that I may have misunderstood the emotion I thought I heard in his voice. It sounded like there was… longing in his voice, maybe even a little bit of hurt.

There was silence, and for the first time in a long time, it was an awkward silence. Most of the time it was peaceful; comforting, even understanding, but now it was tense.

Just then, I heard a slight rattling, and I was able to identify it as the trays that they delivered the food on. Our food was here!

The waiter came to a halt at the side of our table. It smelled delicious. In the cliché way of this restaurant, he pulled of a silver cover, and waved the food right beneath my nose. Then he set it down, and repeated the process with Fang.

Fang and I dug right in, barely sparing time to thank the waiter, and I groaned with how good it was.

Fang froze, and looked at me, shock written all over his face. Then his lips curled up at the corners, and he looked at me, as if to say 'is the food really that good?'

"What?" I asked, not liking how he was scrutinizing me like that. "It's good!" I defended myself, not letting him ruin my dinner. I looked down at my plate, and vowed to eat quietly.

He ate slowly, and you could tell that he was savoring it too. To some, it would seem that he was full because he was eating so slow; I knew better. He was just enjoying it while it lasted. I sort of smiled at him, and sort of just smiled in general. He sort of smiled back, well as much as he smiles anyhow, and we just sat like that, smiling like fools for a few minutes while we ate dinner.

Finally, I realized how bad this would look from a distance. A girl and a guy staring at each other over dinner, neither speaking. But, I couldn't really bring myself to care. If they knew half the truth about us, this would seem normal. So, I didn't really care. The only ones I was worried about was the flock, and Ella, and of course, my mother. My mom was great, but… this really would look like something more from a distance.

But, I couldn't help but wonder, was it? I squished that thought almost before I had finished thinking it. No, this was a family that went to a birthday dinner, got split up, and two friends ended up eating together. That is all that this is, that is all that this is.

I forced my eyes down to my plate, and was shocked to see that it was nearly empty. I smiled, and decided that I was going to go see how Gazzy and everyone else liked this.

"Be right back," I said to Fang, and then I walked away, over to my moms table. "Hey mom," I nodded my head to her, and then turned to Gazzy, "How's your food birthday boy?! God, I never thought that I would say that," I muttered shaking my head to myself.

Gazzy smiled at me, with that cheek ripping smile again. "It's great Max. Thank you!" he said, only a little loudly.

I grinned. "No problem. I would say any time, but most of the time we would get security called on us," I joked, and then turned, waved, and walked back to my table.

Fang was done when I got back, and he was looking at the wall on the opposite side that I came from. He looked like he was thinking about something, thinking hard, but with him it is hard to tell sometimes.

"How do you think Total and Akiela are doing?" I asked Fang, pulling him off of whatever train of thought he was on. He jumped slightly, and then looked me right in the eye, in that way that is somewhat unnerving, but not in an uncomfortable way. It just seems like your soul is getting read or something, you know, nothing big.

He shuddered. "Don't want to know," he groaned, seeming like he was holding down his gag reflex. I smiled.

"Oh come on, it is just movie night," I said, while trying to find a way to change the topic before it got to a point where I didn't want to go, but without doing so obviously.

"Yup, movies," he said sarcastically. "Go ask Iggy what happens on movie night," Fangs tone changed, to one that just screamed 'I am smirking!'

I narrowed my eyes in warning, and then couldn't help the smile that broke out on my face. I wasn't entirely sure what Iggy would have said, but my guess is that it is something disgusting, but still weirdly funny.

So we continued talking for a few more minutes, before we fell into a completely comfortable silence, and then just when I sensed that he was going to break it, my mother walked over and asked if we were ready to leave. I nodded, and Fang got up. When we walked out, I felt my muscles relax, and I hadn't even known that they were as tense as they were, but I was defiantly aware now. I opened the door, and told everyone to hop in; I was going to fly above again, when Fang came up next to me.

"I'll fly," he said, "I want to," he continued, he must have seen how I was going to argue with him.

"Who else wants to fly?" I asked, hoping that someone would volunteer, because I didn't want to be alone with Fang, flying.

To my surprise, Nudge shot her hand up in the air. "Oh my god, I am like, so full that I need to fly. I can burn some off so that we can have popcorn or something later tonight. Can we Max? Yummy, even if I am about to burst, I really want some nice buttery popcorn," she stopped her very short ant, and looked up to me to see if she could go. I nodded.

"If we stop, land," I ordered, and Fang knew we were stopping for ice cream, but no one else did, other then my mom of course. Nudge nodded enthusiastically, and we drove off, with them walking in the opposite direction, to the nearby ally to takeoff.

About five minutes into the car ride my mom pulled over, on the opposite side of the street from an ice cream parlor called 'Cold Stone'. It looked really good. Gazzy's face once again lit up.

He turned his face to me and squealed in the most girly voice I have ever heard him use that was his own voice, "We are not going in here to!" but he seemed so happy that you knew he was really asking.

I nodded. "Yes we are. Well… unless you don't want to. We don't have to," I said, forcing my face to not smile but instead look like I was thinking.

"No!" everyone shouted together, but Gazzy's voice was the loudest. I let the smile I had been holding back take over my face. Gazzy turned, and hardly even looked to see if there were any cars coming and sprinted to the entrance.

I mentally shrugged, and then, after looking both ways, followed Gazzy into the parlor. When I walked in, it smelled so good, like cream, and chocolate, and vanilla, and just all the best smells combined into one amazing aroma, the best aroma that I had ever smelled.

I inhaled deeply, and then smiled, thinking that if I only worked here… I would be on a constant high from these smells all day long; which would be bad, because I would eat all of my paycheck in ice cream. That actually doesn't sound bad… free ice cream all day, I just have to put up with peoples crap… but I couldn't get a job… I had to be on the run every day, but with my family.

I would rather be with my family all day every day then eat ice cream all day every day… unless the ice cream is really good.

I smiled to myself, knowing that it didn't matter how good the ice cream here was, I would rather be with my family… and Fang. It felt weird to call Fang my brother, because I hadn't ever thought of him that way, and I certainly didn't want to start now. Not now that I had decided that I might possibly have a slight crush on him, I am not one of those hicks that are named Bobby Joe and date their sister's boyfriend, their brother. Ewe.

I shuddered at the thought, and then I was ordering. It went very fast, the line I mean, and we ate our ice cream (we all got larges except my mom).

After about 5 minutes Ella just sat there holding her stomach. She started moaning when Nudge pushed her ice cream bowl closer. "No, no more. Please don't make me eat it!" she said, trying to be funny, but you could hear that she was in pain.

"Too much ice cream?" Angel asked sweetly, looking up at Ella, but not in the 'I will control you' way. Just the 'I care' way.

Ella nodded. Nudge was the only one done, so Ella pushed the bowl over to her. "Eat," Ella commanded. Nudge didn't even take time to turn on the Nudge channel; she just attacked the bowl with a poor spoon that will be damaged for life. The ice cream never stood a chance.

We walked out of the place, and Ella was still groaning in pain. The rest of us, even Nudge, were all fine. Nudge had eaten almost two larges. Ella ate maybe a quarter before saying that she couldn't eat anymore. I really don't understand how we are related!

Again we piled into the car, and again, Fang wanted to fly. But this time, Nudge didn't want to fly; she wanted to sit by Ella in the car. They seemed to have really connected. Ella could deal with the talking, and Nudge loved having someone to talk _at_, and them actually listen and share her opinion on the subject.

So that left… Iggy or me to fly with him. I didn't want the younger kids to fly with him, and I didn't want him flying alone. I was starting to categorize Nudge in the older kid's category, depending on the matter.

I turned to Iggy. "Hey you want to fly?" I asked him, hoping that he would say yes, because I had a bad feeling about flying with Fang. Or maybe it was a good feeling…

"No, I'm going to stay with Gazzy and talk about what I am making, I mean getting, him for his birthday," he grinned evilly, then looked at Fang and winked. Yes, winked.

I knocked on my mom's window. "Hey mom, meet you at the house. I want to get there first," I said. For some reason, the more I thought about the house, I got this really bad feeling. It was probably just me flying with Fang, and what had happened the last time we flew at night with him.

We flew in silence, each trying to avoid the others eyes. The few times I tried to speak, Fang tried at the exact same time, and we both ended up not saying anything.

If this had been a TV show, I would have laughed at how pathetic the girl was being. But now… I knew how awkward it was, and how much you wanted to say something, but how much you didn't want to make an idiot of yourself. This was stupid.

Just when I thought that I was finally going to say something, Fang shushed me. I was about to snort because I hadn't even said anything, but then I felt it too: The prickly feeling on my neck that told me that someone was watching me. I turned slowly to Fang and opened my mouth so that it looked like I was talking. He did the same, catching on, making it look like we had no clue we were being watched.

"What?" I asked, fitting it in between two silent words that I just mouthed.

He shook his head. "East. Pass Martinez," he said, clipping his sentences more then ever. Go east, pass my moms, and lead them away. That was my translation anyhow. His might be different but basically he just wanted to steer clear of anywhere that might lead them to the Martinez's house. I was glad that he thought of it, but I was gladder that Angel read minds.

'Angel, can you hear me?' I asked her, in my mind.

'What's wrong?' she answered, and I could hear the panic in her voice. She had sensed my dilemma. I showed her what I felt, and then asked her to 'look' around peoples minds for me and see if she got anything.

I felt her disappear, and then a few minutes later she was back, saying that she didn't find anything and she looked hard. I let out a deep breath, and then smiled.

'Thanks sweetie,' I thought, 'Just let us get there a good five minutes before you just to make sure.'

She mentally complied. I told Fang about it, and then we switched our direction back to the Martinez house.

We landed, and were still on full alert. I motioned to Fang that I was going to open the door. All clear. Then I looked through the rooms, with Fangs help. All clear. Nothing was here. I shook of the feeling of dread, knowing that Angel would find anything out of the ordinary.

The car pulled up, and the flock jumped out into the fighting stance. "Guys its fine. Nothings here," I said, trying to talk myself into it as much as I was them.

I noticed everyone let out a deep breath, my mom included, and then we all walked inside. My mom bolted the doors behind us. As soon as we took off our shoes, the phone rang.

Ella answered. "No this is her daughter," Pause. "Ok, hold on one second," pause as she hands it to my mom.

"Yes, Dr. Martinez. Oh, well I will be down in less then an hour. Let me just cut my… nephews cake. Oh, well then I will be there in 15 minutes," she sighed.

"Ok, I am on call and an animal was hit by a speeding car. It needs surgery. If I don't do the surgery in less then 45 minutes, the dog will die. I have to go, I am sorry," she said, and I could tell that she was angry with herself.

"That's fine. Go save the dogs life. We will save some cake for you!" I said cheerfully, hoping to cheer her up as well. She smiled.

"Be back later. Don't wait up," she said as she rushed out the door.

As she closed the door, Fang locked it. He was still just as tense as me. I had felt something, and I didn't know what, but it scared me.

Then it hit me. My mom was not home. She was saving a dog, which she said was rare that they ever called. I ran to the phone, and picked it up. Busy signal.

"Ella, do you have another phone?" I whispered, so the flock wouldn't hear me. Iggy heard, and he kicked Fang lightly, inconspicuously, and Fang casually strolled over.

"No why?" Ella responded, looking around.

"Phones busy. Someone's here," I said, just loud enough for the flock to hear. They didn't respond, just kept goofing off, like I had taught them to do. I looked around. All the curtains were closed. We had done that when we walked in, just in case the eyes were watching.

"Ella, hide. Don't come out, not for anything," I said to her. To my astonishment, she listened, and took off tip toeing to the master bedroom. She crawled in one of the drawers on the bottom of the bed that was widened so that even Iggy could fit if he scrunched up.

"Stay," I whispered to Ella, and she nodded. I closed the drawer. We walked back out to the living room, to find the flock still messing around, just like they were when we left. Iggy said only three words that told me what was really happening.

"Porch. Erasers, lots."

**A/N evil cliffy. that is in hopes of more reviews! and if this helps... there will be major fax coming up soon. if you want to see it, or read it rather, then you had better review! **

**if you think that it is weird that ella can fit under the bed in a drawer, it is. Dr. Martinez is ready for an attack, that is why she can still shoot a gun. if for some reason the erasers were going to come, she was going to be as ready as max. she got a place for ella, and improved her aim so that she would take as many erasers with her as she could. anyhow... do you like the idea?**

**as always thank you Miz636 for beta'ing my story. and for getting it back to me so incredibly fast. and thank you to MFINGA who is my constant support, who always tells me when my ideas are shit, but she is cool about it. so thank you to her! and if you have forgot to check out her story, then get crackin' cuz it is still good as ever... and about to get even BETTER!!!!! **

**so read it now! and review! ;)**


	21. Is there anything else?

**Is there anything else? **

Max's pov

I grabbed Fang's hand and pulled him into where Ella was hidden. "You're her last defense." And shoved him in, and closed the door. I hoped he would stay. If the erasers got to that room, Fang was her last defense. He wouldn't fail, because if he did, Ella wouldn't make it. I didn't need to deny that, there was no way for her to even get out of her hiding spot fast enough to avoid the claws.

I ran out to the living room, and ripped open the door, fists flying, taking the erasers by surprise. They were waiting to attack, they knew that we knew, but they had expected us to wait for them to attack first. I don't think so.

I knocked one to the ground, and Nudge came right after me, following my example, fists flying, as soon as I was clear of the door. Gazzy came out through the window, and landed on and eraser, knocking him to the ground. Angel and Iggy stayed inside, fighting off any that came made it past us. I jumped off the porch, there wasn't much room, and when I lifted up my arms to jump, I felt a tug.

It knocked me to the ground, and I fell off the porch. I saw an eraser grinning at me, his paw wrapped around my arm. He jumped off the porch, and landed on my other arm, just the very side of it, because I had the small amount of sense to try to pull it away.

I didn't even show pain. I took my leg and kicked the inside of his legs, knocking his legs further apart, so he slipped in the mud, and hit the ground in the splits.

I took advantage and jumped up, and had one brief flash of pain in my arm before I kicked him. He hardly responded. He tried to awkwardly climb to his feet, but I wasn't going to let him if I had any chance in me. They say that it is wrong to kick someone while they're down, but I say bull shit. If they are going to kill you, even in you are down, then why give them the chance. If they can't get up, then you have the advantage so you have a better chance of winning.

So I kicked his face, and then slammed my foot down onto the back of his neck with all the force that I could. He didn't move, but just in case I brought my foot back and swung it forward. Well… planned to anyhow.

I felt the hand on my leg before I had a chance to do anything about it. I felt my leg get thrust up, above my head, and I saw the ground spin. I landed flat on my chest, and felt the wind leave my chest in one fluid motion. I gasped and tried to push the pain in my chest back. I growled, and rolled over, taking little breaths to get my breath back all the while.

Now I was on the ground, and I had two erasers right by me. I cataloged my situation, very quickly. Ok, it sucked. I was in the mud, and I was about to be pummeled.

Wait… _mud_. I grabbed some in my hand and threw it into one of the erasers face. He shook his head trying to get it out of his eyes. He couldn't see.

The other erasers reacted just like I thought he would. He kicked me; just like I wanted him to.

My rib caught fire, well ok, it felt like it did, and that was my cue. I reached around his leg, to right behind his knee and pulled with all my might. He hit the ground, and I jumped up. I did an ax kick right onto the top of his head, and his eyes rolled. I watched him slump over just as I spun and kicked the eraser who was still clawing at his eyes trying to get the mud out. He was knocked back, and again I had the upper hand. I didn't waste time in twisting his neck so that he wouldn't ever get back up.

I saw my flock, mostly holding there own. Angel didn't have a scratch on her, she was inside, but Gazzy wasn't quite so lucky. He had a big slash down his face, and was getting hit twice for every hit he threw. He was right one the edge of the porch.

I grabbed one of the erasers foot. Gazzy had three erasers going for him, but one less and he would be ok. The eraser I grabbed, who just happened to be the biggest of the three, smacked his face onto the side of the porch, where there was no fence, thankfully.

He groaned, and I took the opportunity to flip him over (he is heavy!) and threw my hands over his ears, bursting his eardrums out. He screamed in agony, and I knew he wouldn't get up again for a while.

I jumped up onto the porch and saw that Iggy wasn't doing to well inside the house. He would try to dodge a punch and run into something.

I pushed my way into the house, avoiding the furry paws flying at me, and jumped on the back of an eraser who was taunting Iggy. I wrapped my hands around the front of his neck, and dug my feet into the back of his knees, right where it makes you fall if you get kicked.

Iggy knew it was me, most likely by my foot steps, but he didn't spare time to thank me. He turned at attacked the stupid eraser behind him who thought that he could sneak up. They never learn. I turned to give Angel a smile when I saw an eraser tip toeing toward the bedroom. If it weren't for the situation at hand, I would have laughed at the sight of an eraser tip toeing.

I kneed his butt, as weird as that sounds. When you hurt your tailbone really badly, you can't stand up straight, but you can't bend over either or you get this shooting pain up your spin. I know from bad experiences. I had bruised the bone when I was 11 and I remember how bad it hurt.

The eraser jumped up straight, and then bent his knees slightly, to reduce the pain. I decided to continue the whole 'beat him up with my knee' thing and I brought my knee up to where it would defiantly do some damage. He doubled over in pain, and I put my hand on the back of his head, and kneed his face. It broke his nose, and spilled blood all over my pants.

The eraser sunk to the ground, and I got hit with a major internal battle. Normally we just knocked all the erasers out, or let them fall to their deaths. We didn't kill them. We would get out of there ASAP and leave them to report back to Itex. They were in Dr. Martinez's house, we couldn't leave them, but I didn't want to kill them. I had already killed one eraser tonight, but I didn't want to make a habit of it. We would be killing many erasers in a few weeks, with the ambushes we had planned, but that was different.

'_Is it?_' the Voice asked me, shocking me. I hadn't heard from it in a long time, I knew that it was still there, I still felt it, but I hadn't heard from it in a while.

Just when I was about to reply, I heard a pained huff from the master bedroom. Where Fang was guarding Ella.

I leapt over the eraser, momentarily forgetting him and my internal battle. When I was about two steps from the fallen eraser, he somehow managed to lunge close enough to me to grab a hold of my ankle, bringing me to the ground.

"I don't have time for this!" I growled at him, and grabbed the side of his head, and twisted his neck. I heard the sickening pop, but didn't allow myself to register what it really was.

I sprinted to the bedroom, and had to refrain from just kicking the door open, I actually used the handle.

Inside, I saw that drawer under the bed open, and empty. No Ella. No Fang protecting Ella. No anyone.

Where are they?! I ran to the closet and threw open the door, no Ella or Fang. They were not in here.

"Ella! Ella! Can you hear me?!" I screamed frantically. It isn't that I wasn't worried about Fang, but honestly, he can handle himself much better then Ella could. If Fang needed to, he could fight off five erasers. Ella couldn't even outrun one.

I didn't hear anything, but I looked over and saw an eraser grinning at me through the window. "They're gone. They won't be coming back. They are gone," he said, grinning in a way that told me he was telling the truth, but my gut told me otherwise. I was going to trust my gut.

"No they aren't," I countered, throwing my fist in his face. He dodged it, but lost his footing in the process, and stumbled slightly. I jumped out the window and kicked him in the face so fast he didn't even know what hit him. Literally. The stumbled back a few steps but didn't fall. I kept kicking him and he kept backing up, only to be followed by me until he couldn't go back anymore. His back was on the wall and I was punching him.

"Where are they?" I would ask. He wouldn't answer and I would hit again. He wasn't going to say anything anytime soon, so I had to modify my method.

"If you don't tell me where they are I am going to cut each and every one of your fingers off, then your toes, then something more in the middle of your body. Do I need to put a name to that something?" I growled, knowing that I never would do that. I would just cut off the fingers and toes then kill him. He didn't respond.

Then I realized that I didn't have a knife. The eraser smirked, showing all of his yellow teeth. "With what knife?" he asked, and then he reached for his belt so fast that I didn't even have time to stop him.

He flipped his belt the inside out, and pulled a knife from a little zipper that I couldn't even see.

"How about this knife?" he asked, "You weren't supposed to know that we have these, but I guess you won't get the chance to tell anyone." And he licked the knife.

I froze. Why didn't he pull this out earlier? Was he hiding more stuff? No, I told myself, this was all he had, and I was better with knives then him.

I took one step back, so that I wasn't close to a wall. For fighting, you don't want your back up on a wall. If you need to pull back, you can't. The good side is that you only have to watch one side, your front, and you know that no one will attack you from behind, but right now, I was worried about the knife.

He grinned. "Now are you scared, little bird freak?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Nope, just noticing the nasty piece of food stuck between your teeth," I snarled, hoping to tick him off.

He growled. "That's ok. Make your comments, they won't bother me. You will die and I will live. Keep talking," he said, attempting to scare me.

"Oh God, you wouldn't kill me would you?! Please no!" I faked.

He swung the knife at my face. I turned my head at the last second, and then dropped to the ground, kicking his legs out from under him in the process.

I jumped onto him, and reached for the knife.

"Oh no, you don't!" he huffed, trying to get me to let go. He was tilting it any way he could to try to get me to let go. If he was going to cut me, I would prefer him to get my hand. He could do the least damage there.

I dug my heel into his thigh, and reached with my entire arm span for the knife. He couldn't get the knife!

One of my hands was firmly on the knife, but the other I just couldn't reach further! He grinned, and then slipped his wrist, and I felt a burning sensation run up my hand.

I winced, and knew that he had cut me. But I wasn't going to let go, I was going to hope that the blood didn't make me lose my grip.

I slugged him in the side of the face, and his jaw whipped sideways, and his grip loosened just barely. But it was enough.

I successfully got the knife, and switched it to my right hand, the dominate hand. The eraser showed fear flicker across his face. I had to force myself to not smile; that would be sick. I wasn't happy that I had to kill the… man thing, but just that I wasn't going to _be_ killed by him.

I took the knife, and was trying to figure out how to best kill him without feeling the guilt over it. I was coming up blank. I had given myself three seconds to get a better way before I just stuck with the traditional slitting his throat.

I came up blank. Still. So I stuck to my promise, and hit his cheekbone with the butt of the knife, then went behind him, and ran the knife across his throat with all the force I could. He fell limply to his knees, after I watched in horror as his blood left a trail down my Mothers wall, and on the ground; and on the whole floor, where he lay, dead.

I instantly felt sickened with myself.

"_It was you _and_ your flock, or him," _the Voice said attempting to comfort me. Surprisingly it worked.

'Thanks,' I thought, shocked that something the Voice of all people said comforted me.

Then I remembered that the flock was all still fighting, viciously. Well, not all of the flock, Fang was still missing, and so was Ella. I ran around the corner, and saw that while I was off killing one eraser, my flock had killed quite a few erasers.

Just when the fight got less intense, and the erasers knew it was a suicide mission, a car came squealing up. I didn't have time to look and see who it was, but I knew that they couldn't be good. I finished off the eraser I was fighting, and turned to fend off this new evil, whatever it was.

It was my Mom. She had a gun pointed at and erasers head, or it looked like she did. "Step away very slowly," she said, low and dangerous to one of the erasers Nudge was fighting. Nudge smirked; it looked just like Fang's smirk!

She admired him almost as much as me, if not more. For some reason this didn't bother me that much. Fang was like a father to her, she talked and he didn't, but she respected him even more since their time with the hawks. I think that he must have been great at calming her down or something because she wasn't that worried about me. She was worried, yes, but not like I had expected.

The eraser turned around slowly, and then laughed when he saw my mom. "What Oh Great Maximum, have you sunk so low as to sick your mother on me. Your _human_ mother?" he laughed again. I didn't like the way he said my name with distaste, and apparently, neither did my mom.

Before I heard the shot, I felt the wetness. His blood spattered all over me, and Nudge got completely coated.

My mom ground her teeth together, and then straightened up. I looked around, all the erasers were gone. I looked my mom in the eye.

"Max are you all ok?! I got to work and no one was there! I knew what happened, and I came home. Where… is… Ella?" she slowed down at the end, seeing the look on my face as she was talking.

"We hid her. Fang was… watching her. They're both gone," I said, holding back tears.

"Gone?" she choked and the flock looked at me in utter shock.

"Not dead, I can't find them," I said, and then I took off running for the woods, refusing to let my mother see my cry, after losing her daughter, who she had thought was safe with me.

What was wrong with me? And where was Total? I just realized that neither Total nor Akiela were there when we were attacked. Now I was even more scared. I started full out sprinting.

I ran this way and that, knowing that my hand was bleeding way too hard for me to be working my heart this hard. It wasn't healthy, but if I lost Ella or Fang, it wouldn't matter what is healthy for me or not.

Yes it will, I argued with myself, (almost as bad as arguing with the voice in your head) the rest of the flock still needs you. And mom can't lose both of her kids… but Ella isn't dead yet.

She wasn't dead until I saw for sure one way or another.

I finally decided that randomly running wasn't going to get me anywhere important. I had to look for where they may have gone.

After a few more minutes, I found some funny looking footprints. The toe was facing north, but the impressions looked like the person was heading south. My personal Tom-Tom was telling me so.

So I went with my gut feeling that the tracks were really heading south. The person's foot was fairly small, about size 5, and they weren't the most coordinated person. The tracks went right, then left, and not at all in a straight line.

About a half hour later, the tracks got closer together, almost like the person was walking slower. Finally they stopped.

But no one was there. I was in the middle of the thickest part of the woods, and there was no where to hide. I looked north south east and west but I didn't see anything. I had convinced myself these were Ella's tracks, but she wasn't here! I had looked everywhere!

Other then up…

When I tilted my head up, the only thing I was… furry… well lets just say male dog's underside flying down at me. I almost screamed, but then I hit it out of the way thinking about how for the first time tonight I was lucky this was a little dog.

I got into the fighting stance, wondering where I stood on fighting dogs. Wait… how did the dog get up in the tree?

I only knew one dog that could do that…

"Total!" I shouted, with nothing but joy in my voice. He seemed taken aback. Once I actually looked at him, it was obvious it was him, but I had been expecting a threat, not… Total, so I hadn't been looking for him.

I ran to him, and scooped him into a hug, then looked up to where he had come from; to see how high he had jumped to get there.

He licked my face, and then grimaced under all that fur. "Ewe, too much salt," he stated, being his normal self. Obviously he didn't know what had just happened.

I didn't say anything, I just dropped him, and snapped out my wings, and flapped down once, twice until I was in the tree.

Ella sat next to me; she was in the fetal position, on the biggest branch on the tree. "Max," she said, and she launched out of the fetal position, and crawled slowly over to me, then reached out and hugged me.

"Oh god Ella. Are you ok?" I asked her, looking her over just to make sure that I didn't see any gaping wounds in her. She looked fine to me…

"Fine. Are you guys all ok? Other then Fang I mean…" she added. I felt a tare run through my chest.

"F-Fang is h-hurt?" I asked, not letting it register until she told me for sure.

"Well, he was bleeding after he killed that eraser that got in there, but he said he'll be fine. An eraser got in that room Max!" Ella shouted, apparently not realizing that Fang always said he would be fine, even when he was about to fall 5,000 feet because of loss of blood.

"Was he walking ok? Where did he go? How many got to you guys?" I asked her, firing off questions like I was Nudge.

"He brought me out here, and told me to walk backwards. Find a tree and climb it. Then he left, back to where you guys were. He said he wasn't sure if you would be ok without him. He seemed fine, but his leg was slashed up," she said. Typical Fang, hurt but worrying about me.

"A minute later, Total came up, said it was his duty to protect me," Total huffed out his chest, "and then led me to a good hiding spot. I climbed the tree, and a few minutes later, you showed up," she said.

"Total, thanks. Show her how to get back. I have to find Fang," I said, and looked at Ella to see if she was ok with this.

"Ok, I'll have Angel tell Akiela to come back now," Total said, and then added, "she went to Dr. Martinez's office in case any of us showed up."

I smiled at him, hoping to god that none of us would be hurt bad enough to show up there.

I took off running in the direction that Ella had pointed me in. I ran and ran, until my lungs were burning.

'Where is Fang,' I asked the Voice, hoping that for once he would tell me a straight up answer.

'_Where do you think he is?_' Jeb answered, using the voice.

'I don't know or I wouldn't be asking! I think that he may be heading straight so that I could find him. He knew that I would look,' growing ever more irritated.

I felt him smile, in my head. As weird as that sounds, 'then go straight,' he responded, obviously happy with me.

I started running north east, where I was supposed to be headed to go straight.

I ran and ran until my lungs burned so bad that I knew I had gone much further then I had ever ran before. I would open my wings, and fly to find Fang, but the trees were too close for me to even hope to spread my wings and fly.

I stopped and put my hands on my knees, and tried to catch my breath. As soon as I half caught my breath, I started walking again.

I picked my way through bushes and everything until I saw something that caught my attention.

A small piece of black fabric that was torn on both sides, like it was used to make strips of cloth. I stood up to my full height, and saw a shape in the distance, but because it was nearly black outside, even my raptor vision couldn't pick things out perfectly now.

I ran to where I saw it, as fast as I could, and stopped when I got to a little clearing. I spun in a circle, and saw nothing.

I slumped my shoulders. Maybe I imagined it?

Then I saw it again, a shape, about 20 feet from me, that was nothing more then a silhouette. I walked slowly closer, and the closer I got, the more that I recognized that silhouette. There was no doubting who it was.

**A/N Oh my gosh! thank you so much guys! wow... 22 reviews...**

**ok... you are very lucky to get this chappie, even when you did review so well. a lot has happened in my life right now. my mom lost her job, becasue a machine can now do it. she went to 4 yrs college, and 2yrs medical school to get this job. then that same day (friday) i find out that my aunt rosemary had stage 3 cervical cancer. then about an hour later i get a call that my cousin, mike, who is rosmarys oldest kid (of 6) tried to hang himself. his younger brother joe (11) found him. then the next day, mike is in a mental hospital btw, i find out that my uncle, rosmarys husband, and mikes dad, lost his job the week before, and has been out looking for a new one. to keep someone in a mental hospital, it costs almost 1000$ a day. with no job, my aunt rosmary cant afford that. so she is taking mike out... and idk how well that will work. **

**so my life is just like... blah right now. i am on the verge of tears all the time, and if you even say 1 little insult to me, i cry. normally i would just say fuck you, but right now i cant handle it.**

**unless it is in a review! so pretty please review, and i will eturnally love you! thank you so much! it would help me feel SOOO much better too!**

**REMEMBER... IN THE NEXT CHAPTER OR TWO, THERE WILL BE SOME MAJOR FAX, IF YOU ALL REVIEW AND MAKE ME HAPPY! SO REVIEW!**


	22. Crap crap, FLAP!

Chapter 21

Max's pov

Before he could disappear again, I poured on the speed and nearly ran into Fang. I grabbed his wrist, and held with all my might. I knew it was him… how many times had just the two of us flown together, and I had only seen him by his silhouette outlined on the moon?

Fangs arm snapped out, like he was going to back hand me, and before he had even turned around, his hand was sailing through the air, heading right for my face.

I flinched, and threw my arms over my face, ready to block the blow. I knew he didn't know it was me, and I surprised him, so I wasn't going to hurt him _terribly_ bad for it.

The corners of his eyes tightened when he saw me flinch, and he dropped his arm back to his side, using remarkable control to not follow through with the smack. He opened his mouth to say something, but I didn't give him the chance.

I threw my arms around him, and was once again hit with the knowledge of how tall he is, at least 5 inches taller than me. I hugged him until he hugged me back, which was about five seconds. I then realized how awkward this _should_ have been. It wasn't.

After a minute or so of just being thankful that Fang was ok, well able to stand anyway, I pulled away. I looked Fang up and down, and saw only minimal blood. That was good. Even though Fang is a really good fighter, he normally gets very badly injured. Like, I don't know why, but there is something about him where he thinks that he has to fight off the most erasers he can, so he takes on more then anyone could possibly take out. I was un-imaginably happy that that wasn't the case this time.

"You're ok? Not like… shredded or anything?" I asked half joking, but half worried that in this light I may have missed some really bad wounds.

He shrugged. "Hardly a scratch," he boasted. I let out a small breath. Then I remembered Ella mentioning something with his hand…

"Your hand?" I asked. His face fell slightly.

"S'not that bad," he muttered and put it behind his back. "Ella's ok?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Subtle Fang. Let me see your hand," I commanded. He slowly raised his hand out to me, and I gasped. It was slashed from halfway up to his elbow all the way down to the base of his finger. It was deep too, maybe a half inch.

"Move your fingers," I commanded, not in the mood to mess around. He didn't move them. "Move them Fang!"

Slowly his fingers began to bend and unbend. I looked up to his face and saw that his jaw was clenched. It was hurting him. "Ok, stop. We have to wrap this up…" I mused, looking around for something to wrap with. There was nothing.

I grabbed the bottom of my shirt and tore off a few inches, telling myself this was an emergency. My shirt was barely at the top of my pants now. The pants that used to be dress pants, but were now covered in dirt, and blood, as was my shirt. Now my shirt was torn too, but if it helped stop Fang from bleeding, then I was fine with it.

Then I reached out, and tore off the bottom of his shirt too, and then ripped it into strips, which I wrapped around his arm, pretty tightly. He didn't wince, he just stared at me. When I got done, I looked up at his face, to see a small smile touching his lips.

"What?" I asked, suddenly being hit with an onslaught of embarrassment.

"I'm really glad you're ok," he said, and I smiled, despite myself, because I had just been thinking the same thing.

"You too," I said, looking down at my feet, suddenly noticing that they were very interesting….

"Thanks for finding me," he said, his voice back to the old, non-emotional one. I looked back up at him, and even when I tried to not notice how his hair fell over his eyes in just the right way, or how his shoulders had gotten wider in the last few months…

"Ya, no problem. Thanks for getting lost," I teased. Wait… how did he get lost… with our senses, we don't get lost; ever.

He shrugged. "Fang," I warned.

"When an eraser came he called back up. There wasn't enough room to fight in there," he said quietly. "I got Ella and flew like hell. She's heavy," he said, pausing. I waited for him to continue. He didn't.

"And?" I prodded. Yes, I am prodding Fang for information. That is so new! Normally he just opens right up.

"I dropped her off, told her to run, and flew the other way," he said shrugging. "I made sure they saw me though," he said, looking hastily at me.

"I should have stayed there and helped you," I muttered, mostly to myself, because I was so frustrated that I had put him in that position.

"You're here now," he said, very slowly. I froze. I knew that tone in his voice; it was the one that he always used when he was about to say 'we need to talk' great…

"I was worried about you," he said, still just as quiet.

"Me too," I said, trying to stop myself, but failing. I didn't want to have this talk… I just wanted to… figure out why I my stomach felt so… weird. It was like, tingly? I don't know the word; it just felt funny, like I was anticipating something major, that I was not yet aware of.

Fang smiled. "S' good to hear," he said, and then he sort of half raised his arms, awkwardly, and stepped forward; towards me.

Then he raised his arms the rest of the way and, for the second time tonight, hugged me. I hesitantly hugged him back, in my mind telling myself it was just so that I was just avoiding being rude, but all the while trying to ignore the sensation of my eyes practically rolling back in my head.

His chin rested on my shoulder, and he whispered, "You don't know how glad I am that you're ok."

I was shocked. Fang didn't do emotions, and this was definitely an emotion. Not only was he saying something that implied that he had emotion, but his voice sounded like you took a sponge and soaked it in a bucket of warm fuzzy emotions.

I didn't respond, I didn't know how to respond, so I just wrapped my arms around his waist, and held him tightly to me.

He sighed. "Max, I… ugh," he groaned, frustration coloring his tone. I was still hugging him, nearly a minute later. "Ok. Max, I'm just… dang it!" he said, and pulled back from me. His face was furrowed in concentration; he wasn't looking me in the eye.

I was really starting to worry about what he was going to say. I was about to open my mouth and tell him that we needed to head back, but he didn't give me the chance.

"Look Max, I have to tell you something," he rushed out, but then didn't say anything else. I nodded in encouragement. If I had to do this, I may as well get it over with.

A part of me wanted to run, when the other part was dying to know what he wanted to say. After I admitted that I might possibly like him, it became more obvious every time I saw him that the chances of me liking him were more then a 'might possibly.' It was more of a 'you like him' sort of thing when I looked back on it. What if he felt the same? Or… what if he had noticed and was going to tell me that he saw me as a sister, and nothing more? Then what would I do?

The thought was crushing. I felt like I just wanted to crawl in a hole and die, anything to escape that possibility of that.

Fang ran his hands though his hair, and as soon as his hand left it, his dark hair fell right back where he moved it from. Somehow, even when this gesture bothered me when other guys did it, when Fang did it, it looked cute. God I did not just think that…

"I knew exactly what I was going to say…" Fang murmured. He started pacing.

"Fang, do you want to just head back?" I asked hopefully, hoping that he would just let me go, and not tell me that he thought that I was his sister, and that I was gross for thinking of him differently.

He shook his head. "Max, stay. You know what I only… you know that, you know that even… shit!" he said, looking really flustered. I narrowed my eyes at him, about to tell him that I really didn't want to hear that word again, when he looked over at me, apology was in his eyes. He then caught my eye, and smiled, a small tentative smile.

I smiled back, confused, but unable to not return the smile when he was so sincere looking.

He took a step, and then paused. Then he continued walking towards me, and grabbed my hands. He pulled me towards him, so hard that I couldn't resist.

Then his lips were on mine, and the fire was everywhere. I pulled my hands from his, and he pulled his head back slightly, giving me room to leave if I needed to. But I didn't, I wasn't going to leave this time.

I was the slowest girl out there, but I had finally decided that there might actually be something between Fang and me.

My hands, well… they took control for me. They made their way up to Fangs shoulders, and I had seen what to do next on TV. I stood up onto my tip toes, so that I was the same level as Fang, and gently pressed my lips to his. I felt his mouth stretch into a smile, so big that I couldn't help but smile right along with him. Our lips didn't stay together for long, but I knew enough to not pull back suddenly.

Slowly, ever so slowly, I pulled back, and I saw Fang grinning from ear to ear with a smile that would give Gazzy a run for his money. Or bomb equipment, whichever you decided to bet him…

Instantly the queasy feeling in my belly increased ten-fold. Would he try to kiss me again? I hoped so…

"So I don't need to explain anymore?" Fang asked, still grinning, but I could now tell that he was trying to wipe that look off his face. I didn't want him to; it suited him, but then again, so did his mask.

"Depends…" I narrowly avoided gulping, and then I couldn't hold it off anymore, I gulped.

He smiled a little wider. "I had this whole speech. Iggy helped me. But… I forgot it. I just was going to tell you that… never mind," he said, looking away. Before his head was completely turned away I saw his skin turn a darker color in his cheeks, and then turn slightly pink.

"That's the only time I've ever seen you in pink," I teased, trying desperately to avoid the awkwardness that I was sure would follow.

He turned to mock glare at me. I turned to walk back to the house, knowing that if we were too far for Angel to hear us, then they would be freaking out. I didn't want either of those two options. As I was walking, I felt Fang brush my hand. Then he went to my other side, and I looked at him like 'what the heck?' he just grinned.

Then he grabbed my hand. I didn't even get a chance to wipe off all the sweat. Yes, my hands were sweating, I was nervous. Me, the all mighty Maximum Ride was nervous because of… her right hand man, Fang.

I stopped walking. I can't do this! I don't have time for this, for relationships. Fang stopped walking to, our hands stretched out in between us. His head fell, and he released my hand.

"Ok. Tell the others I'm fine when you get back," he said, and he rolled his shoulders, loosening up his wings.

"Huh?" I asked. What was he talking about?

"If you're leaving, you'll get back first," he said sounding sad still.

"I'm not leaving," I said, not only to promise Fang, but also myself.

He looked up, and I detected a trace of hope in his eyes. "You're not?" he asked, and again, he may as well have worn his feelings on his sleeve because they were clear in his voice.

"No, I'm not. But we can't do this," I murmured looking intently at my feet, again. His head fell again.

"Look Max, if you don't like me fine. I get it. I lost my chance. Fine! But don't sit here and mess with me like this. One way or the other! Don't kiss me one minute, and the next not even let me hold your hand. Do you want this or not?!" he said, frustrated and angry, and hurt.

Oh god, not now. Please not now. "Fang," I said, my voice low, trying to hide my own hurt. How could he think that he lost his chance? I still liked him. I don't just go around kissing random guys.

"No, never mind Max. I'm gonna fly," he said, and stretched out his wings, which had also grown.

"Fang! Don't walk away from me! This isn't even about me! What about the kids?! What do you want me to do about them?! And you kissed me first you jerk!" I screamed back at him.

It was so much easier to yell then to just take all his crap. God, why is he so dumb!

"Oh right. This is so about them. Wow Max, that's low! Use the kids to just explain away how you are too scared to try to do something new, like oh I don't know, make yourself happy!"

"Scared? No Fang, I'm not scared! I just got a whole shit load of stuff dumped on me, and then here you are, kissing me, then Lissa, then possibly Brigid! Did I miss anyone? I'm sure I did. I didn't ask to have to be a mother at ten years old, I didn't ask to have to save the world, I didn't ask to have to fall for my best friend, and I certainly didn't ask for my best friend to be as big of a jerk as you are!" I was full out screaming, and at this point I didn't even care that I had just screamed out to him that I liked him.

"Ha! You think I kissed Brigid?! Wow. The only reason I was ever around her was to get advice on how to plan this day! I wanted this to be perfect Max! I was going to ask you to go out on a date with me. Only me, because guess what Max, I like you! Yup, shocker. I always have but can you see it? No! You are too busy with other things to even see that every time you push me away, you tear off a freaking piece of my heart, stomp on it, then burn it to ashes, and dance on them! But do you care? Not at all. You are above caring what the hell I think, you are so above that!" Fang's vein in his forehead was throbbing, and he was towering over me, leaning toward me, and I was leaning towards him. I was not backing down. And neither was he. That was our problem; neither of us would back down, until it was life or death, literally.

"Well here, take some advice from me, don't freaking yell in my face about something that isn't my fault Fang! Is it my fault that you are to scared to show how you feel, so I don't ever know if you are feeling what I am? No! But you know what is my fault? Coming out here for you. This hurts me Fang, I am so sick of you enjoying my pain, making me jealous on purpose, trying to hurt me just so that you can take pleasure in the fact that I am still working on picking myself up off the ground again, to keep living. But oh well. I can deal with that, if you just leave me alone! So go back into your little emotionless shell, and sit there being scared to ever show how you feel because you don't want to ever take a risk. Whatever!" I was yelling so loud that I knew tomorrow morning my throat would hurt.

That was nothing compared to how bad my heart was hurting right now. It hurt to breathe, and it felt like I got run over by one of those giant monster trucks. Yup. That basically sums up what I was feeling, pain wise anyhow.

"Fine! Leave Max. That is what you always do anyhow!"

"Oh I leave? And who was it that walked out on me last time we fought? You. You, Fang the coward, who is too scared to stick with something, or even let them truly know them. Like, I don't know; maybe show them how you feel? What do you think about that? How do you feel Fang, how do you feel?" I mocked him, fighting off tears. Why didn't I just let him find his own way home, then we wouldn't be having this stupid screwed up conversation.

"I'm not a coward! You are!" he shouted at me, and I was instantly grateful that the kids weren't hearing to see this. Or even Iggy. He didn't need to see… ok hear, how insecure I was with my role, and how much me and Fang bickered.

"'You are!' 'No you are!' 'No you are!' Wow Fang, real mature. Come back to the house when you are calmed down and out of your jerk mode! Bye bye!" I chided, trying again to dismiss him, hoping that he would take the hint and stop yelling so I could leave, without forfeiting the fight.

"Max, if you only knew what you are sending away… but whatever, I know a dismissal when I see one," Fang retorted.

"Well thank god you finally get it," I said, turning around, heading towards the house. I knew I wouldn't make it to the house, I would have to stop; I could already feel the tears trying to fight their way out.

And he turned and walked away. Then he was gone. I had figured that he would do that, make himself go invisible so I couldn't follow him. As if I would.

I felt a lump growing in my throat and I knew that I would have to let this all out before I went back. I sat down, and pulled my legs up to my chest, then wrapped my arms around them. I looked up to what I could see of the sky, and felt the tears start to fall.

I looked at the moon, and the stars, and eventually the sky just fell away. I just stared at the sky, feeling miserable, wishing that I would just have the energy to dig a hole so I could crawl in it and die. Why did my chest hurt so badly? Why couldn't I just look at the sky and not think that his wings looked nearly the same color as it? Why did everything I think have to be based off of him, how he looks, how he talks, everything?

Why me?

I felt Angel in my mind, and I vaguely realized that she wanted to know if I was ok. I sighed, and stood up, forcing down everything that I was feeling, because I was still the leader.

'I'm fine Angel. I will come back right now. Everyone is ok there right?' I asked, making sure that everything was still ok.

'Well ya, but Fang isn't here…' she said, and I knew she was suspicious, but didn't want to say anything right now.

'He went flying,' I responded, and she dropped it, like I knew she would. 'I'll be back soon,' I said, and stretched my wings out. Flying was faster.

Once I was in the air, I started to feel really light headed. I couldn't figure out what the problem was; I had eaten, I wasn't overly tired, and I clenched my fists in frustration at myself.

I felt a ripping pain shake up my arm. I looked down at my hand and saw the slice in it. 'The same hand as Fangs,' then I snapped out of it, and was in the debating on whether or not to bother wrapping it up.

I had cut it more then two hours ago, why was it still bleeding?

'_Max, wrap it up now. Move your fingers. See how hard it is? There is a chemical on the knife blade that makes it immensely painful for days, and that stops the blood from clotting. It is relatively new, and you were the first to endure it,_' the Voice said to me in my head, and I got ticked off immediately.

'Why didn't you tell me before?!' I screamed in my head to Jeb. I was already angry, and he was just pushing it. Did he want me to die, is that why he was letting me bleed for two hours, without mentioning this?

'_You need to learn some things for yourself. I assumed that you would notice sooner. Then you got… caught up. Max, pay more attention to your own body, and make sure you are safe before going to save the rest of humanity,'_ Jeb said.

'I thought you wanted me to save the world,' I replied starkly.

'_You can't save the world if you can't save yourself,'_ the Voice answered, again acting like a fortune cookie.

'Screw you!' I childishly said in my head. I think that I may have heard the voice chuckle at that one. I sighed. At this rate, everyone that helped me, I was starting fights with. I flew for a few more minutes in silence, thinking of things that couldn't possibly lead me to think of Fang. Even my mom's cookies could be traced back to him.

On my down stroke, I felt the lightheadedness get even worse. I started to see splotches in my vision. I felt my wings start to flap slower, but I really didn't have enough control over them to make myself flap harder.

I was losing altitude, but I couldn't see well enough to tell where to land or where I was. I forced my muscles to work as hard as they could, but it wasn't hard enough. I faintly heard tree leaves rustling below me, so I knew I was close to the top of the trees.

'Flap, flap, flap!' I screamed to myself, using every ounce of control to flap harder. It wasn't enough. I was still falling.

**A/N Holy Crap i am so sorry! my computer is now broken... so i am super sorry for the wait. and also, if you hate the fight, then tell me why, and not just because you hate when they fight. ok? thanks. **

**thank you SOOO much for last chapters response! 45 reviews for one chapter! WOW!!!! ;) thank you! **

**i will update ASAP but i am going to florida, and i dont have excess to a computer right now... i am in my grandmas work, so ya... but as soon as my computer is fixed, and my chapter is written, i will update. THANK YOU FOR WAITING!!!!!!!!**


	23. Holes

Holes

Fang's pod

God why? Why does she have to do this to me?! I am so sick of all her crap! One minute she seems so happy, and then the next second she is pulling away from me, saying that we can't even hold hands.

Her hands… one of her hands had a cut on it. The cut was fresh, it was bleeding but not really badly… it seemed like more of a nuisance then an actual problem.

Every time we fight I feel so bad about everything that I said to her, but not this time. This time she was vicious. She didn't hold back at all. She just yelled and screamed anything and everything that came to her mind.

Sure, I may hide my emotions a little, but really, does she honestly think that I am an emotionless shell? When I think that she is ready for me to show her how I feel, then I will. I don't think that I will ever be able to truly tell her how I feel, but I may be able to show her somehow.

And please, get your minds out of the gutter. I don't mean show her like that, but by other actions. Not flowers or other stupid stuff, but things that really matter. Ok, you caught me, I have no clue how but I guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it. As of right now… she isn't ready. I will have to show her soon though, before I lose her.

Really, how many guys are waiting for her? Lined up waiting for me to make a mistake? Too many. Most of whom don't even know her, but the second they did, they would want her.

I know that Max likes me; she isn't some whore who goes around kissing guys for the thrill of it. I mean, I know I kissed her first, but if she didn't like me, she would have turned me into a girl for that. But she kissed me back, and I know I felt her smiling.

I don't even know why I kissed her, maybe because that morning in the hotel room is still so fresh in my mind. Ok people, mind out of the gutters again please. Thank you.

Egh! The way she said 'see you when you're done being an idiot' made me want to beat her back to the house. If she showed up later, that made her the idiot right? Yes. Well… in my mind it does.

So I flew. I flew as fast as I could. I focused myself on staying invisible, knowing that if she saw me going full speed, she would realize what I am up to. I had been able to move and stay invisible for short periods of time for a while now, if I devoted myself completely to it.

Wow, to normal people, that sounds really weird I bet and yet to me, that is life in the day of Fang. Just a perk of the job.

The job I didn't want, and haven't ever wanted.

I guess max didn't pick her job either, but she needs to just… be less stubborn! Ok, not going to happen, but it was a nice thought right?

Just then the house came into view. I folded my wings against my back, and dived right for the back yard.

I hit the ground running and nearly ran headlong into the porch because I didn't give myself enough time to slow down.

I came to an unsteady stop and just about tripped over a part of the porch that had been broken off of the railing.

I smirked knowing that that was most likely Max that defied the purpose of a railing by pushing an eraser over the edge. I climbed up the steps, looking around, noticing all the erasers that were lying around. I shuddered and kept walking to the door.

I hesitated. Every time I had come here before, Max had been with me. She had knocked, or called or something. Now what?

"Dr. Martinez?" I said as I knocked, and pushed the door open. I figured that way I got in all the different ways to get into the house.

I looked around the living room, where you walked in at. Everyone was there but Max. I had beaten her.

I surveyed the damage. Normally we don't care what we wreck. We don't know who has to replace what we ruin. This time we knew who had to fix it, but I was sure that Dr. Martinez would be ok with us breaking the porch if it meant we would all be ok.

"Where's Max?" Iggy asked me, in that freaky way of his.

"Coming," I answered, instantly trying to figure out a good reason as to why she wouldn't be with me other then the real one. I shut the door, and dead bolted it behind me.

"So you saw her?" Ella asked. I nodded. "You guys split up? When will she be here?"

Ella was titling her body, trying to look around me as if Max was on the porch and Ella would be able to see her from here. And what would Max be doing on the porch? Smoking a cigarette? I don't think so, not Max.

I was glad that Ella was ok, I hadn't thought to check when I left her; I was more worried about getting those erasers the hell away from her.

"She took the long way. Making sure all the erasers was gone," I said indifferently, saying it like it was the truth.

Iggy's head fell to the floor. He knew.

"Are you hurt?" Iggy asked, changing the topic.

"Nope," I lied. My hand would be fine, Max already took care of it, and I didn't really want to deal with him right now.

"Liar. Where are you hurt?" he asked again.

"His hand," Dr. Martinez spoke for the first time since the restaurant. I was about to shoot her one of my traitor looks, but then I remembered who it was. I kept it to myself.

"Ok, come here," Iggy said, leading me into the kitchen. He felt for a stool, and then sat down. I followed suit, sitting across from him.

He felt for my hand, and then frowned when he felt the bandage. He took it off, and felt my hand very gently.

"Big splinters… pretty deep… how'd you do this again?" he muttered.

"Tree," I answered simply.

"No shi… duh."

I didn't elaborate and he didn't ask again.

"So you and Max fought?" he asked, not 'looking' up from my hand. I didn't respond. That was answer enough for him.

"What about?" he prodded.

I turned my head, not really wanting to talk about it.

"What did you fight about?" Iggy asked in a tone I had heard him use with very few people. He meant business.

I tightened my jaw.

"So let me guess. You didn't make your move, instead you said something stupid. Hum, what could you have said this time?" he continued harshly.

My fists tightened of their own accord. Still he kept going.

"If you had even the smallest brain, you would have made your move. You would have screwed it up all over again. Then again, that is what-"

I stood up, taking care to scrap the legs of the chair across the floor. Iggy stopped. I walked out of the kitchen, out through the living room and outside. I needed to be in the fresh air before I killed someone; preferably Iggy.

"Shut up. You know nothing!" I said in a voice that was abnormally loud for me. Iggy grinned, causing me to scowl.

"You weren't out there. You didn't see it. I made my move and she pushed me away. We fought, and then I came here. End of story," I snarled. I felt slightly guilty over taking my anger out on Iggy; he was just trying to help.

"See, was that so bad?" he asked. "If you had just told me in the beginning, we wouldn't have had to do all this," Iggy said, proud of tricking me. If I had thought about it, I would have seen it, but really I didn't care if he knew about that or not.

"Oh gee, thanks for the encouragement," I muttered.

"Oh… right well, it will all work out in the end," Iggy said, scratching his head, struggling to think of something better to say. I grinned. So Iggy.

I snorted. "Real original."

"You know what I said before was to get you to crack right? I didn't mean any of that; I just said that to get you to crack," Iggy said, not looking me in the eye, he wasn't great at the whole feeling/apology thing either.

I walked past him, and opened the door. "I got the door for you," I said, letting him know that I forgave him, and of course, telling him that it wouldn't slam shut in his face when I walked by him.

He walked by me, and into the house, and for the second time, I closed and locked the door when I got in.

"So, are your hands ok?" Dr. Martinez asked when I turned around.

I nodded.

She turned away from me. "Ok, onto the next problem. What do we do with all the… bodies?" she asked, seeming reluctant to say bodies. Oh yes, be careful, it may upset the little ones!

I need to get my sarcasm in order; she is just trying to help us after all.

"I say we bury them. They defiantly can't get found. If they did then that would be like, really bad. Like all the feds or whatever you call them would be like… all up in our business. That would probably just tell the school where we were and then we would have to go back. I don't want anyone to find the bodies," Nudge finished.

"You won't go back. I won't let them take you," Dr. Martinez said, sounding so sure of herself. Oh yes, a human is going to stop a hoard of erasers, with a hand tied behind her back at that!

"It's not quite that easy," Gazzy mumbled, before shuddering slightly. I think he was remembering when Max and I weren't there and they were attacked by flyboys. Even Iggy is still terrified that may happen again, and if it did, no one would be able to stop those damned robots.

"Well, we had better start digging then, hadn't we?" Dr. Martinez said taking on a tone I knew from Max that meant it doesn't matter what you say, I will do it my way.

I nodded, and walked to the back door. "I'll dig first," I murmured.

"The shovel is leaning up against the back wall," she called, just loud enough to hear.

I dug and dug and dug, until the hole was over my head. Then I dug the sides out so it was wider. Finally, when I couldn't dig anymore, Iggy came outside.

"So what exactly did you and Max fight about?" he asked me, with his hands pushed into the pockets of his jeans. Everyone had changed out of there 'nice' clothes, even me, and into there normal attire. Ella was in her pajamas though; I don't think she ever changed out of them, other then for school and going into nice places.

"Do you really need to know?" I asked, rubbing my hands on my temples, trying not to get angry all over again. I didn't want to fight when Max finally did get back. I was not going to apologies, but I planned on being nice, just so neither of us gets _too_ angry.

"Well I was just wondering because she still isn't back. What did you say to her?" he asked, looking up to meet my eyes. "You got back three hours ago, and she still isn't back."

Three hours? It can't have been that long, I was thinking about what happened the whole time, analyzing everything that we said to each other trying to figure out what went wrong. There isn't anything that I could have said that would make her stay away for three hours I don't think.

It doesn't matter what I may have said to her she would have come home. She would have wanted to make sure everyone was ok. Nothing I could have said would have kept her away this long, unless _someone_ was keeping her away.

I shoved the shovel into the ground, and climbed out of the hole. "We have to find her," I said, mostly to myself, but Iggy heard too. He matched his stride to mine, and looked over at me.

"So you didn't say anything that bad?" Iggy asked, sounding like he already knew the answer.

"Nope," I muttered, and went up the stairs 4 at a time. I burst through the door, and Dr. Martinez looked up to me.

"What are the chances we missed some erasers?" she asked, sounding scared for the first time in my memory.

"Very slim, not impossible. Angel?" I asked her to look for Max's mind.

"She blocked me a while ago. I can't find her, not when she is blocking me," Angel whispered, looking up to Dr. Martinez with big eyes.

"Then we will look the old fashioned way," Dr. Martinez said, not missing a beat. She grabbed some flashlights, and passed them out to all of us.

"Pairs. We need to be in pairs just in case there are some stragglers out there," Iggy said.

"Angel and Nudge; Iggy and Gazzy; Me, Dr. Martinez, and Ella. Put your hiking boots on," I said to them. I really didn't want either Ella or Dr. Martinez coming, they would just slow me down, but I really didn't have much of a choice, being that they are both related to Max and are just as much attached to her as the rest of us.

Everyone nodded, and we split up. Ella wasted no time getting some boots. It seemed that no matter how shaken she may be, she is there for Max.

And the search begins.

**A/N And the hunt is on! Will they find Max, will she find them? Is Max ok? Why am I asking the questions? To pump you all up of course!**

**Ok, that was inappropriate, I should be apologizing. I had this chapter typed out before, and I saved it on the library computer, but I forgot about the function on the library's computers that delete any files you save as soon as you exit out from all word documents. So I saved it, went to upload it to FF and it wasn't there. So then I had to re-type it, (and I didn't have a hard copy to go off of) so it took forever. But here it is. **

**It is a short chapter, sorry, but if I did what I originally planned on doing for this chapter it would have taken another week or two at least. So I figured I would give you something. **

**So I am sorry about the major lack of chapters, and on the bright side, I may be getting a new computer so it wont be broken anymore! So you may get your regular chapters again starting next week! (But don't hold me to it, because it is up to my mom if we get the computer or not and if we have the money). **

**So review so I know that I haven't lost all of my wonderful and faithful readers yet! (Yes, I am buttering you up, so please review!)**


	24. Capitilo vente y tres

**Chapter 23 or something**

Max's pov

I hadn't been paying attention to how high up I was when I started loosing consciousness, so I had no idea of how long until I splattered on the ground. That didn't stop me from trying to brace myself, like right now in case, you know, I just happened to meet the ground formally in a head on collision.

The trees were whipping past me, and I felt my arms getting scratched and torn up. There wasn't much I could do about it though, because I wasn't flapping my wings enough to stay up. They were barely even moving, but I couldn't make them go any faster. The only reason I kept flapping was because the slower I was going when I hit, the less it would hurt, and with the searing pain in my hand, I didn't need any more.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I felt the tip of my sneaker scrape something that didn't give at all. The ground.

I barely had time to process this before I was trying, with renewed force, to put my legs first to land on. I scraped my sneakers a little bit more.

Then I was flipping. I hadn't been able to catch myself, and my foot caught on the ground and sent my upper body flying out in front. I did maybe two flips before I was able to stop enough to just start rolling.

If this had been recorded, and you know, it was normal for people to have wings, then this would have probably looked pretty funny. My wings were fine, so I was flying normal, and I don't think you could tell that I couldn't see so it would probably look like I just had no idea how to land. Right now, I had no idea how to gather enough energy to get up.

'On the count of thirty, I will get up,' I told myself, taking deep breaths, and ignoring the fact that even once I did get up, I wouldn't be able to get home.

_'Max, get up off the ground now, not in thirty seconds. Take 15 steps Northwest. There will be a tree there, with a big opening on the other side where the trunk rotted away. You have to get to that tree. Go' _I heard in my head. The Voice had decided to enlighten me with. I didn't even have a sarcastic remark. I just focused hard.

Just to my left was northwest. I took a deep breath, and tried to stand up. I got halfway up when my legs gave out and I fell back down.

I tried again. This time, I didn't even make it halfway when I felt my knees start to wobble.

_'I don't care if you have to crawl to get to that tree, but you have to get there.'_

I rolled onto my belly, figuring that as humiliating as this would be, I had to listen to the Voice. Ok, I know that I am not one to listen to adults well at all, but never ever had this particular voice told me to do something wrong, and it had never lead me astray.

And, also, right now I wasn't sure why Jeb was telling me to get in this tree, but I couldn't really think straight, so I may as well do it in case there was something I was missing that I normally would have picked up on. Like, I don't know, I was in a cobra's breeding ground or something.

For those of you smart asses out there, I know that cobras aren't in New Mexico, but with my luck, this would be the first reported wild sighting. So I crawled.

I pulled my leg up to my chest, and pushed it back. Slowly, slowly I moved forward. I couldn't really judge steps when I was crawling, so every time I moved forward, I reached out to see if I could feel the tree.

Finally I felt a bit of bark brush on my fingertips. One more push and I would be there. I would be able to rest.

I felt around the tree for the opening, and when I felt a gap I heaved myself towards it.

I crawled into the tree gap, and again I received instructions. _'Max, you have to elevate your legs. This poison is spreading through your veins as we speak, and I don't know what damage it could be doing. You need to put your legs up and then relax.'_

'Relax? I'm being poisoned, and you want me to relax?' I felt myself getting hyped up and my pulse quickened.

The pain intensified. _'That is why you need to calm down.'_

I realized that the more this stuff spread, the more it would hurt, and the faster my heart beat, the more it would spread.

_'This will cling to the inside of your veins, and as long as your heart is calm, then it won't spread. It will be easier to treat,'_ the Voice said.

I raised my legs, and using the last of my determination, I propped my legs up and laid my head back.

'Fang will come for me,' I mused, knowing that even if we were fighting he would never leave me here to die slowly and painfully. I felt my heart beat faster, and tried to think of calming things until I felt the full effects of fighting off the inevitable for so long. I should have passed out long ago, I lost my sight, and was unable to even stand, yet I lasted three minutes or so before I passed out. Maybe having a thick skull was beneficial.

Iggy's pov

Even knowing that Max and Fang had fought, I knew she would have come back by now. That meant something was wrong.

Gazzy and I walked through the woods, not talking, or farting, or even planning, but just walking. I listened, and he looked.

He knew that this wasn't the time to be fooling around, and I was proud of him for it.

"Iggy, I see something here. It looks like drag marks," Gazzy said with uncertainty. Drag marks? That couldn't be good.

"Are there foot prints?" I asked back, and crouched down, gently brushing my fingers over the ground, feeling the marks.

"I don't see any," he said, lowering his voice. "That doesn't mean they aren't here though," he whispered.

"Where do they lead to?" I asked, listening hard.

"How do you expect me to know? They are just scrapes!" he whispered angrily. He wanted to find Max toa, and make sure she was ok and not… never mind. Just make sure she was ok.

"Do the dirt tracks get messed up at all? Like there was a fight?" I asked him, hoping that he wouldn't hear the panic that was gripping me.

"Umm, hold on," he mumbled, sounding like he already felt bad over snapping at me. I didn't blame him one bit. I heard him swallow, "Ig, I think this is blood."

I got on my knees, and started to touch the ground with the palm of my hands. I felt something that was sticky, and moist.

I ran my finger through it, and brought it up to my face. I breathed in deeply, smelling it. Blood. "Yeah, there is. Ok, now, the drops will have one big side, and then a smaller part, shaped like a teardrop. Where does the pointy part of the teardrop point?" I asked, trying to distract him from how the situation looked.

"To your left," he said, and I could hear the soldier coming out in him. He was fighting off his fear. I turned, and started half walking half squatting over to my left all the while running my fingers over the groves that dug into the ground.

"Iggy, stop. There are… hoof prints there. Or, something with some gol dang big feet. I don't really know what it is," Gazzy said.

Being that he sounded… not really scared, but like he knew he should be, I stopped. I put my hand flat on the ground, and felt for the print. I came do a dip in the ground, and ran my fingers gently around the edges, so as not to disturb the print. It was big. Really big, like, moose sized.

"How far apart are they?" I asked him, thinking that this was probably just random.

"Maybe five feet. Why?"

"I think those are just some random animal prints, they don't have anything to do with Max."

I kept crouched down, but continued moving. A few feet later, I felt a root under my feet. I felt that too, until I came to the tree it is connected to.

I stopped and listened. This might not even be from Max. This is the middle of the woods, so what if there is blood and some drag marks? Animals have to eat too; maybe this was a coyote's meal.

I heard something faint beating. It sounded almost like a dog, or something else with a slow beating heard. Maybe a calm person? It was close too.

My hands got clammy. What if these track were just from some poor hobo that the erasers found on there way in?

I straitened up, and walked around to the other side of the tree trunk, running my fingers along it.

Suddenly, my fingers lost contact with the trunk, and I reached into a hole. The heartbeats loudness increased tenfold. Then I recognized the heart beats. They were Max's, but slowed down to about half of there normal speed.

I fell to my knees, and reached inside frantically, feeling around.

By this point, Gazzy was by my side, and he was looking inside too.

"Max!" he exclaimed. No response.

I grabbed her bicep and gently tugged her out of the hole. Her head flopped to the side. "Max, wake up. You still with us?" I asked, holding her head up.

She didn't respond. I slapped her cheek lightly, trying to get her to wake up.

"Iggy, her hand is bleeding really bad," Gazzy mumbled. I grabbed her right hand and felt it. It was fine. Then I grabbed her left.

There was a really deep laceration, and it was bleeding freely. I grabbed my shirt, and took it off. I crossed my legs, and laid Max down, then took the shirt and put it in my teeth, and pulled. It ripped down the middle, and I continued tearing it to pieces, and with Gazzy's help we were done in less than a minute.

I grabbed a strip, and wrapped Max's hand. Then I grabbed another, and wrapped it again, until he hand was covered completely in strips of cloth to stop the blood. I left a few strips on my leg.

"Gazzy, use those strips to wipe away her tracks. Ours too. Then follow me. I'm goanna start back," I said. I knew he would catch up to me; I would be going too slow to get very far.

Just because I can fight and all that jazz even though I am blind, I still have to be careful in new environments… like woods. There are roots and branches all over the ground, and as much as I would like to trip while carrying a sick person, I would rather not.

So I walked cautiously. Within two minutes or so, Gazzy was walking right beside me.

"Iggy, how did you know about the blood drops? Where they would point?" he asked, speaking for the first time since we had found Max.

"If you drop any liquid on the planet, and then smear it, you will be able to tell which way the person smeared it. I was just assuming that Max or whoever it was from was too tired to worry about false trails," I said, glad he was distracting himself.

"Oh."

"You know she's going to be ok, right?" I asked him, hearing the hesitation in my voice, even when I tried to fight it off.

"How do you know?" he asked. I honestly didn't. She was bleeding badly, and it was soaking through the bandage, I could feel it on my stomach, and she was passed out. That didn't seem very ok to me.

"Because when have you known her to not be? She has been in way worse shape then this and been fine, hasn't she?" I said confidently, or well, maybe not so confidently.

Max is my sister, and she will be fine, because she is tougher then all of us put together. And when she is mad…. Well I don't think that even the whole US Marine forces could bring her down then, and being that she and Fang had just gotten in a fight, I figured she was pretty angry. So she would be safe.

"Can you get Angel and ask her to tell everyone that we found max, and that they need to get back to the house ASAP?" I asked him.

"And you aren't because…?" he asked. I internally sighed. Ok, he caught that little snag in my plan. I just wanted him to feel like he was doing something and this needed to be done.

"Because you can talk to Angel easier because you guys share blood," I said, pulling that out of my butt. It sounded accurate though, so who cares.

He stopped talking, and I closed my eyes. Sure, I was blind, but I always kept them open anyway, it looked more normal, and it felt more natural.

I am a terrible actor. I was trying my best though, to not let him know that I had no clue what was going on.

Max should have stopped bleeding by now, I had wrapped her up, and she was bleeding before when we found her. She should not be bleeding!

"They are all coming. Dr. Martinez will be there in a few minutes," Gazzy said a few minutes later.

I picked up my pace. My arms were tired, to say the least. Max wasn't fat at all, but she was almost as heavy as me, and I was carrying her. Normally Fang carried her when she couldn't carry herself, which was rare. I'm not built to be muscular, none of us are, I'm built to fly, and to survive. I have to be quick and nimble, not muscle bound, so I guess the white coats, being the thoughtful people they are, didn't give me a crap load of muscle.

Right now, that crap load of muscle would be useful. About two miles later in the direction we had come I started to recognize the smell of death and blood.

In an area this remote, we had to be getting close to Dr. Martinez's. "Gaz, how close are we? Can you tell?" I asked, hating that I couldn't see for myself.

"I can see it," he said.

I heard quick footsteps, two sets, and I instinctively turned sideways to shield Max.

"Max! Are you ok?!" I heard someone scream frantically. Dr. Martinez must be one of those foot falls.

"She needs some help. She's… unconscious," I said, trying to think of a way to be calming.

"Let me see," I heard a gruff voice say. Fang took her out of my arms, and I unbent them, dropping them to my sides.

"The only thing I can see that's wrong is her hand," I said, and Fang turned, and started flat out sprinting for the house. Dr. Martinez turned, shocked and started running too. Even with Max in his arms, Fang still ran faster.

I heard the quick foot falls fade away, and then I started running too, with Gazzy following closely behind me.

I slowed as I felt like I was getting closer to where the wreckage started. I didn't want to be the blind fool that fell, even if I was going to get there after everyone else.

"Gaz, go tell them how we found her," I ordered, and as I knew he would, he listened. I never told him what to do. He was one of my best friends, and it wasn't my job to boss him around, so when I did, he listened.

I heard his feet hit the wooden steps of the porch.

I picked my way over to where Fang was digging earlier, and walked slowly to the edge of the hole.

I imagined what it would look like, and I walked the perimeter, nearly falling in at one point. I backed up, and started pushing bodies in, knowing that was what it was for. They wouldn't want the bodies found.

I realized that I should probably be inside right now, so I abandoned that task, and went inside. All the breathing was coming from an area right to my left, right where the couch was.

I realized that I had a shirt on, but I didn't remember putting it on. I didn't really remember much just that Max was hurt and there wasn't anything I could do.

I sat a few feet away from all the action and listened. Max's heart beat hadn't sped up any, but it hadn't slowed either.

"Iggy, we have to stop this bleeding, but I can't do stitches, it's too deep. How do you think it will work best, but not get infected?"

I smiled slightly remembering an incident several weeks ago. "Superglue works great," I said. I had cut myself on an old car motor from the 60's. Motors then were made with sulfite, which was great for mixing with bleach for an explosion. I was taking it apart to make a bomb out of, and I just fixed it with superglue, because I couldn't tell Max or she would have smirked and said 'tough luck'.

It had worked great. I had no clue at the time that it would really work; I just needed the bleeding to stop.

Which brought up another question, why hadn't Max stopped bleeding yet?

**A/N if your going to kill me, do it slowly becasue i almost have the next chapter done. it is when i can type it i will load it, assumeing that my reviews pick up some! i got half of the reviews for chapter 22 that i did for 20! what is up with that?! **

**please reveiew and sorry for taking so long to finnally post but i am now! **

**dont forget to check out miz636's story, old and new collide, she is my editor, and i love love love her story! and it has a sequal, that is currently being written! go read and review!**


	25. Layers

Chapter 24

Fang's pov

'We got in a fight. She was fine after. She was able to fly away. She flew fine, and then she talked to Angel. She was fine. She had that cut long before she was by herself, so what am I missing?'

Max was hurt, and she the bleeding wasn't stopping. The superglue had finally stopped the bleeding but she was still knocked out. She needed blood. Dr. Martinez had taken mine first, and Iggy's and then Nudge's. All of us who had blood to give had already given and now it was only a matter of time before Max woke up. Or so Dr. Martinez said.

It had been 2 and a half hours since Iggy had found Max. About 45 minutes later, Max got some blood in her. She stopped loosing blood about an hour and fifty two minutes ago. Ok, exactly one hour and fifty two minutes ago, now one hour and fifty three minutes ago.

What could make her bleed for hours, from only a cut? Granted it was a cut that wouldn't have disappeared completely to the point where you wouldn't even know it was there for about a month, but still.

Then it clicked. We were dealing with the School and the School's employees that like to watch others suffer. Sure they wanted us dead, but they would want it to take a long time for it to happen so they could study us. What is one way to kill someone slowly, but not damage the average functions of the body, so that you could still to study the subject in detail?

Poison.

"She got poisoned," I said, after coming to this conclusion. Eight heads turned to look at me in turn.

"Poisoned? With what?" Dr. Martinez asked, looking me like she didn't even know me.

I shook my head. "Not sure. That just has to be it. She should be better by now," I said feeling the need to throttle an Eraser until they would never wake up again.

"I've never seen anything that keeps your blood from clotting until you're the point of bleeding to death…" Dr. Martinez said. I was silent, as was everyone else in the room. I had to force myself not to snort. She had obviously not dealt with the School before this occasion.

"What could she have gotten cut with that would poison her?" Ella asked. I rolled my eyes and scoffed. She looked at me, offended.

"Hum, I wonder. Because you can't cover a knife in poison. That would be mean," I said, so irritated that I wanted to scream. I don't scream.

"Well excuse me; I try to think with a non-violent mind!" Ella said, trying to sound angry, but sounding more like a wounded animal.

I laid my head back, and closed my eyes. After a minute I looked back up. Gazzy and Angel were sitting in the lazy-boy chair cuddled up. Angel's nose was red, and Gazzy had his arms around her, just like I had done so many times when she was crying. They were fine; they had each other for support.

Iggy was sitting by himself in the far corner. He was fine. I looked for Nudge. She was glaring at me.

"You know Fang, Ella wasn't raised like us. She grew up in a safe home, surrounded by _safety_. We were raised on violence, trying to outsmart the enemy. We're programmed to think like we do, and she was programmed to think like she does. She can't change that, and I don't want her to! I like having a _normal _person to talk to, so leave her alone!" Nudge said, sounding ridiculously like Max, except in a higher pitch with more words.

I looked at Ella, and she looked at me. I nodded to her, and then looked away.

"Ok, so what should we do?" Dr. Martinez asked, ignoring my jab and Nudge's interruption.

"You're the vet," Nudge answered promptly.

"Well, I can only think of one thing. You guys aren't going to like it," she started. Oh, because we like this so much…

Seven hours and a few spasms later, I was sitting in one of those un-padded uncomfortable chairs that hospitals have, except I wasn't in a hospital. I was in Dr. Martinez's veterinary hospital.

When you have a problem with your liver, you have to get your blood taken out of your body, all of your blood, and cleaned. So doctors hook you up to a machine and have that clean your blood then pump it back into your body.

Well, it's expensive to get this done, and as you can imagine, the equipment is expensive. Dr. Martinez didn't have one, but she had access to one.

Fellow vets had one, and so she called that guy; and he let her borrow it, because he didn't want the dog, which happened to belong to a billionaire, die. That could cause lawsuits. This dog was in dire condition, and needed a blood diagnostic right now. So Dr Martinez had gotten the diagnostic machine.

The dog was Max, in case you haven't caught on by now, and now we had work to do. Max didn't have a bad liver, but her blood was contaminated, so we had to clean it. Dr. Martinez proposed cleaning it with this machine.

I didn't have a better idea, so here I sat, watching Max's blood get pumped out of her, into a big loud machine, and then back into her veins, to get carried into her heart.

I had originally grabbed her hand just to check her pulse, but then I felt how cold it was. Her hand felt like it belonged to a dead person, and I was not having that.

Now, both of Max's hands were curled up into fists, and I had my hands on the outside of hers, and she had about fifty blankets piled on top of her.

Gazzy was asleep on the floor, right next to Max, and Nudge and Angel was on the couch. Angel was asleep, but with Nudge it is hard to tell sometimes if she is sleeping or thinking hard. Ella was on one of the other uncomfortable un-padded chairs.

Iggy wasn't in here. After telling me that he would cut me into Swiss cheese with a rusty butter knife if I didn't wake him up the second Max woke up, he had went into the lobby to stretch out on the big fluffy waiting chairs to go to sleep.

I looked at the clock on the wall. After staring at it for about thirty seconds, I registered that it was after six in the morning.

'I should sleep,' I thought.

I closed my eyes, and laid my head back.

I've never had trouble sleeping. My brain puts me to sleep when I want sleep, and it wakes me up when I need up. I can think that I need up in six hours and I will be up in six hours. When its time to sleep, I just close my eyes and I'm out.

But right now, I couldn't sleep. For whatever reason, these last couple of nights I have just laid awake. They say counting sheep's helps you fall asleep. That is bull shit. It just keeps your brain thinking, and keeps you awake. I've been trying out different methods for falling asleep. So far, I've come up blank.

When I got to 467 _elks_, Dr. Martinez came in the room with us, and told us that we would have to leave in the next five minutes because her clinic opened at seven and when the first person arrived, her lobby couldn't have bird kids spread all over the place.

I went around and oh so gently (snort!) shook the flock, plus Ella, awake.

"Wake Iggy up on your way out," was all I said. Gazzy crossed his arms.

"And what are you going to do?" he asked defiantly looking at me like he was not going to leave unless I picked him up are carried him out of here.

"Make sure no one gets to nosey," I said, deciding that that would be the official reason why I was going to stay. To protect our secret and make sure that no one happened to come into the wrong room.

"Me too," "And me!" "I can help too," rang out through the room.

"You have to go," I said, coming up with an out of the blue reason why, "because that defeats the whole purpose otherwise. It will still look suspicious if you're all here."

Ella turned and left first. Soon, I was in the room by myself, and Iggy came walking in.

"Call me in an hour and I'll come and watch over. Sound good?" he asked. I nodded, knowing even then that I wouldn't be calling him. "And you had better call me!" he threatened.

Damn. He knew me to well.

"I sound like that girl from John Tucker Must Die…" he muttered as he left the room.

We had just seen that movie a few months ago when we were here… and it was interesting. The main character was an idiot, and a womanizer, but it had some funny parts. It was more of a Nudge sort of movie rather then mine. Max just about beat Iggy to a pulp when he asked me to describe the kissing scene to him. There was one part in the movie, where two friends kissed… and they were both girls. Max was appalled… Iggy was like… well he wanted a clearer picture of it lets just say that.

I mentally laughed to myself as he left the room, recalling that memory.

I sat in front of the door, leaning against it, making sure that no one would be able to get in without going through me first, literally. I stared at Max, wondering what had happened, and if she had been poisoned when she was stabbed, like I thought she had, but also wondering if she knew but was just concerned about finding me. She underestimated me; I would make it home, no matter what.

I closed my eyes, imagining what she was thinking, wondering why she felt that we couldn't be together. Did she just think I was incapable of being… a good, this sounds funny but boyfriend? Or was she just afraid that I would leave her again like I did before? What was going on her that perfectly… annoying head of hers?

And why did she hide inside a tree trunk? If the erasers were still around, then they would have still been able to find her… they are 50% wolf, they could have smelled her blood.

I shuddered, thinking about what might have happened if they had found her when she was so hurt that she wouldn't fight them. She would have had no way to tell us she was gone, and we would have just kept looking in the surrounding area until it may have been too late.

I felt something push on my back, and I jammed my feet into the tile, and put my hands on the door pushing myself up as well as keeping the door shut. I turned around, and opened the door enough to peek outside. It was just Dr. Martinez.

"Fang, you don't have to listen to me, but I really think you should go home and get some sleep. You haven't slept in 24 hours, and you had an adrenaline rush, which will leave you fatigued. You should sleep," she said. I knew she was right, but I was not leaving.

I nodded, and muttered, "I'll just sleep here."

"Call me as soon as she wakes up. She's not just my patient, she's my daughter too," Dr. M. said before closing the door and walking out.

I realized right then that even if Max's mom seemed like she had it together all the time, she really didn't. She was just a lot like Max; she had to pretend she had it together so that it might make the rest of us feel less panicky. At least, if her reasoning was the same as Max's that was her thought process.

I looked at the door, and then at a chair next to Max's bed. I checked under the door for feet and when I saw none, I grabbed the chair and quickly stuffed the backrest under the door handle so that no one could get in.

I walked over to Max, and felt her pulse again. It had picked up slightly. Still not enough for me to be relieved though. Her hands were still cold! When was she going to warm up enough for me to… relax. Well, as much as I ever relax anyways.

I dragged myself back over to the door, and removed the chair, and sat back down.

I could sleep for another hour or so, and then Max would be about ready to wake up. I think.

I closed my eyes. And kept them closed. And then opened them for about a second before closing them again.

I began counting seconds hoping that would put me to sleep. It didn't.

Finally after 2,361 seconds (I think…) I knew it was a lost cause. I was not getting back to sleep.

I jammed the chair back under the door handle, and kicked the legs, locking them into place. I didn't want that chair to move without me knowing that someone was trying to get in.

I walked to Max's side and looked at the table she was on. It wasn't really a bed; it was more of a surgical table, which wasn't long enough. After the animals got surgery here, they got put in a cage so there were no beds for Max. Instead she got put on this table.

I felt the metal, and it was colder than Max. She was already cold, she needed to get warmer, so I grabbed the blanket that was folded twice on top of her, and unfolded it. I took the extra, and awkwardly sat her up, and put it under her top half, then the same under her lower abdomen.

That should be warmer and more comfortable for her.

Then I walked back to the door. There was nothing for me to do there either… I wandered to the far corner of the room, and looked at this room from a different perspective. Still nothing to do.

I continued wandering for another half an hour, minimum, before deciding that there wasn't much I could do.

I walked back over to Max, and she still wasn't up yet. She was a bit warmer though, and when I felt her pulse, it was a lot better then a few hours ago. This treatment was working. Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, but still it was working.

I slid her feet over to one side, and sat next to her on the table. After a few minutes with nothing else to do, I checked her pulse again. It was still the same as before, as far as I could tell.

I looked at her face, and there was more color to it than when Iggy had first found her in the woods, back when I didn't know if she would make it. Just this one cut had caused so many problems.

Granted, some of those problems I caused, by trying to push her. See, Max is made up of layers. She is like… an onion. No, she is sweeter, so more like a cake. Anyhow, on the outside, she is tough, with no cracks, but the further in you go, the softer and sweeter she gets. How do I know this? You can see it when she sees Angel hugging Chelste and being a mother to her, or when she sees Iggy touching random things so he can see the color in his head. You see the softness in her eyes.

Enough Hallmark, that is just how it is ok? I know this is how she is, and I know that until I get the outer tough layers stripped away, she will keep insisting to herself that she doesn't like me as more than a brother.

Before tonight, I didn't know how to strip those away; I just knew that I had to. But after seeing the look in her eyes when she pulled back, ever so slowly, I knew that one of those layers had just been stripped away.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want her to be weak, I just wanted her to let me get to the inside of her, for her to let me see how she thinks. She would still be the same; she would just grant me a little more access.

Once the last of those layers was gone, she would finally admit to herself that she likes me. She has to like me, because if she didn't, I would be dead by now. She would have killed me that day eons ago in the cave when I kissed her, and if she let that slide, which she wouldn't, the second I went to give her a massage, she would have killed me. So she has to like me.

I sat thinking for a little while longer until I had to check Max's pulse again, for my own sanity. Or, what was left of it.

Her pulse was almost normal. I looked at her face. Same color as always, except her lips, they were still a bit pale.

I looked down to her hands. I picked up her non-injured hand, and held it between my hands. It was small next to mine, but still the perfect size.

If I hadn't been so greedy, if I would have just been satisfied with a kiss, then we would have went back together, and I would have realized that Max was still bleeding. But I had to be greedy; I had to hold her hand.

Any guy would, so I couldn't blame myself for that, but I should have just kept my mouth shut, like I normally do.

She was just as mad as I am. That's why she said what she did; she didn't really think any of that stuff she said, that was all just stuff for her to take back. She had to know that I wasn't afraid to show my feelings; I just didn't want to scare her off, because we all know that when she is overwhelmed she runs.

I let go of her hand, and put both of her arms under the covers so she would keep warmer, then I sat on the floor, with my back on a wall.

I felt my eyes start to close and I knew that I should sleep now if I could. With all the trouble I had been having lately, when I could sleep, I was going to take advantage of it.

I closed my eyes.

What felt like minutes later, I snapped awake. I jumped up, my back to Max, knowing that I had to protect her against anything at all costs.

Then I heard a little laugh. I whipped around to face Max, and saw her sitting up.

Relief washed through me, and I smiled at her.

The grin washed off her face, and in seconds she had mustered up one of her glares that could kill.

"Get out. Get my mom, and get out," she said, in that ready to kill quiet voice she had.

She ceases to amaze me, she has been knocked out for hours because she was hurt so bad, and yet now she is ready to jump up and fight me?

I ignored it. "I take it you're gonna live?" I asked her, knowing that would tick her off, but saying it anyways.

"Are you deaf? Get out, before I do," she said, and she removed the blanket and swung her legs over the side of the table. She swayed a little bit, and put her hand to her forehead.

I rushed forward, to catch her if she fell, and she snapped her eyes open, and looked me dead in the eye.

"I don't have amnesia. I remember everything Fang. If you don't, let me remind you. You got on my case because I don't have time to mess around with you and your stupid emotions, or lack of, and you got ticked and told me I was a horrible leader. So now that you've been enlightened, get out," she said, her voice not even shaking.

"I did not say that!" I said, drawing on my memories to make sure that I didn't say she was a bad leader. She wasn't, not at all and I don't care how mad I got, I would never say she was.

"You may as well have," she said, her eyes narrowing.

"Think what you want. I'm going to get your mom, because she asked me to get her when you woke up, and then I'll be back," I said, needing a second to collect my thoughts.

I hadn't even thought about what would happen if she was mad when she woke up. But, of course she would be, she didn't sit up worrying for several hours for my safety.

I grabbed the lab coat that Dr. M had left for me when she walked out. It made me sick to my stomach to put it on, but I swallowed deep, and put the damn coat on.

I found her almost instantly; she was in the lobby, reassuring a loving cat owner that taking the cats temperature wouldn't scar the cat for life.

As soon as Dr. Martinez saw me, she put her hands up in the universal 'hold on' gesture, and the patient stopped talking.

"Miz, please hold on one second. One of the cats that was recently hit by a semi truck is in critical condition and has just woken up. Am I correct Intern Jogia?" she lied smoothly, looking at me expectantly when she said Intern Jogia. Apparently, that was me.

"Yes," I replied, lying more smoothly than Max's mom.

The worried cat owner got a sudden panic in her eyes, "Go, for Pet's sake, go fix that cat!" and then her eyes welled up with tears. Wow. Pete's sake, what ever happened to Pete?

With that Dr. Martinez turned, after smiling gratefully to the customer, and followed me, right on my heels.

"So she's ok?" she asked me.

I nodded briskly.

"And how long has she been up?"

I shrugged. "Maybe four minutes?" I responded, not quite sure how long it had been. How long was she up before I woke up?

"How long has she really been up? Ok, no, how long did you talk for?" she asked me calculatingly.

"She has been awake five minutes max," I said, not intending the pun.

Dr Martinez looked at me, her eyes curious, "Ok…," and she walked in the door to Max's room. "Wait out here."

I nodded, having planned on it anyways.

About six minutes later I knew something was wrong. It had to be, it didn't take six minutes to take someone's pulse, or unhook them from all there equipment.

I jumped up and ran to the door, and tried to open it. It was locked. Something was wrong…


	26. The agreement

Chapter 25

Max's pov 

Ever so slowly, my eyes opened. I knew this feeling. I had been sleeping for hours, but not because I wanted to be. I sat bolt upright, and reached down to rip the tubes from my arms.

A yellow sticky note stopped me. I had to laugh as I read it, probably just because I was slightly loopy. "Max, don't you dare rip these tubes out of your arm! They are cleansing your body of the poison that you may or may not know that you have. In either case, leave them here. Even once you wake up, you are still sick. Don't touch the tubes! ~Dr. Martinez (that's mom to you, young lady!)"

Under normal circumstances, I probably would have proceeded to rip out the tubes anyways, but I recognized the room. This was in the back of my mom's work; it was where I got the chip removed from my arm. I looked around the room, thinking about how glad I was that this time, I wasn't saying stupid stuff under the influence of pain killers when I saw him.

Fang.

'What is he doing here?!' I said to myself, not bothering to say it quietly. The effect was instant. He jumped up, with his back to me, and got into a defensive position. I laughed. If only I could wake up that quickly…

He turned around and looked at me. I wiped the grin off my face, forcing myself to forget how funny he looked ten seconds ago. I remembered exactly what put me here, and I remember what led up to it. My fight with Fang.

"Get out. Get my mom, and get out," I said, talking quietly enough that he wouldn't hear the hurt that was sure to be in my voice.

He completely ignored it. "I take it you're gonna live?"

"Are you deaf? Get out, before I do," I said, swinging my legs to the side of the too-short table, and preparing to get up.

Whoa! Head rush… I wobbled for a second, putting my hand to my forehead to steady myself, when I saw him rush forward with his hands out.

I snapped my eyes to him, "I don't have amnesia. I remember everything Fang. If you don't, let me remind you. You got on my case because I don't have time to mess around with you and your stupid emotions, or lack of, and you got ticked and told me I was a horrible leader. So now that you've been enlightened, get out," I said, proud that my voice didn't show how much it hurt me that he was such a jackass.

"I did not say that!" he said, and then he stopped to think. I knew that he didn't, but he did make it seem like my job was easy, and that I was just over-complicating everything. I wasn't.

"You may as well have," I responded, still glaring.

"Think what you want. I'm going to get your mom, because she asked me to get her when you woke up, and then I'll be back," he said. As soon as he walked out the door, I brought my legs to my chest and took a deep breath.

I rolled my neck, and felt how stiff my whole body was.

Within a few minutes, my mom had busted through the door.

Before she had a chance to freak out, I simply said, "I'm fine mom," and held out my arm for her to take my pulse, like I knew she would.

She smiled at me and then took my pulse, counting to ten on her fingers, but counting differently on her lips.

"Normal," she declared, "Well for you anyways," she smiled. "So how are you feeling?"

I shrugged. Truthfully, my hand still hurt really badly, but I've had worse, so I wasn't going to complain.

My mom nodded slowly, as if she knew it hurt, but also knew that I would be fine, so she didn't need to worry about it.

"So are you doing any better?" My mom asked, prodding gently.

"I just said I was…," I trailed off, confused.

"No, I mean with Fang. Have you two smoothed things over yet?" she asked me. I pretended to not know what she was talking about.

"Ya, I guess we're fine," I said, looking at her like she was crazy, hoping that she thought she was wrong, and we weren't fighting. Which would be wrong…

"Oh come on! I'm not stupid, I know that you two like each other in some way, shape, or form, and that you came back separately because you were fighting. I'm not slow. So what happened?" she asked, prodding a bit harder now.

I brushed it off as "Oh, we were just sweeping for Erasers."

She didn't fall for it.

"Well, whatever he did, if you're smart you will forgive him, –to an extent‒ because he hasn't left your side in," she looked at her watch, "about 7 hours. Since you got here."

"You're siding with him?! But you're my mom!" I said, raising my voice slightly.

She smiled playfully at me. "So you did fight?"

"No," I defended, thinking that she should be a lawyer.

"Okay, well whatever you decide to do, when you leave here, make sure you put that coat on. Don't give me that look!" she exclaimed, noticing my look of disgust when I saw the white coat. Yes, ironically she wanted me to wear a white coat. "Just wear it so people don't realize that you were the sick dog," she finished.

"Sick dog?"

"Long story. We just needed a story as to why this room was quarantined, and why we needed this blood cleaner. Did you like the note?" she asked, smiling.

I smiled. "I still have the tubes in, don't I?" I asked, rhetorically, because I obviously did.

"Well I had better get back to the crazy cat lady, bur I'll check back in an hour or so. Feel better!" My mom said, smiling and giving me a sort of hug, sort of back pat thing.

I smiled at her. Just as she reached the door, someone knocked on it. Actually, it was more like they pounded on it. They wanted in.

My mom froze. "Should I open it?" she asked, looking at me in fear.

I kept my face indifferent. I nodded, getting ready to jump off this table and slam it into some kneecaps.

My mom opened the door, and standing there was Fang, looking very worried.

Yes, Fang. Not an Eraser or evil person who had discovered the secret, but Fang.

"Y'all right?" he asked, noticing our fear stricken faces. Well, mine was more angry then anxious now.

"I was," I muttered, mostly to myself. My mom turned to me, and gave me a hard stare.

"Max," she threatened, knowing that no matter how much she threatened I wasn't forgiving Fang unless I thought it was the right thing. Or if I desperately needed him, whichever came first.

I ignored her, hoping that Fang hadn't understood that we were talking about him while he was gone. My mom turned back around and said "Don't worry, she's fine," and left.

I sat cross legged, waiting until I could get out of here. I hoped that I wouldn't hurl while I waited. The smell was here. I noticed an air freshener in the corner of the room; my mom must have remembered that I hate this smell.

Fang walked over to the chair that my mom had been sitting on, took it, and stuffed it under the door handle, locking it closed.

Then he turned and walked over to my table grabbing my hand. Checking my pulse.

I snatched it away and snarled at him, "What don't you get about leave me alone?"

He said nothing, just grabbed my hand again and put his fingers on my wrist. Again, I snatched it away. "Don't touch me!"

This time, he grabbed my hand, and didn't let go when he tried to check my pulse. I tried to pull it away, but I was weak from the blood transfusion and from having just woken up. Plus, he had had more muscle mass than me for almost a year now. It hurts me to admit it, but he is physically stronger. But, I could still kick his butt any time, any day.

"Let go right now!" I said. He didn't respond.

He counted silently, and then let me go, and we both knew that the pulse reading he just got was inaccurate. When I struggle my heart rate goes up, as does everyone else's, and I had been struggling to get my hand back.

"Why won't you just leave me alone, Fang?!" I said, getting even angrier that he seemed to have forgotten about our little, or not so little, fight.

Still he said nothing, just sat down a few feet away from me.

"So you're just going to ignore the fact that we got into a huge fight, all because you are an idiot, a jerk, and extremely selfish?" I asked, knowing that would get him to talk.

"I am," he said coolly. My mouth just about hit the floor. Fang was not one to take stuff lying down, ever. But I knew this wouldn't last. I kept antagonizing him.

"Finally you see the light! You finally realize that you are not above everyone else. Everything you do isn't always right, is it Fang?" I said, knowing that I was getting dangerously close to being a bitch. Ok, no, I was being a bitch. But really, if he didn't talk… then we couldn't make up. And I wanted to, pretty badly. I don't like fighting with Fang, contrary to popular belief. I just end up losing my temper.

"Nope," he said.

"Seriously Fang, don't pretend that you don't want to kill me right now. You're just as pissed as I am. Stop pretending," I said, trying to get him to talk to me.

"I'm not mad at you," he said, still just as collected.

"Oh come on Fang! Either get out, or get ticked back!" I said, feeling pretty bad that I was still mad at him, but for some reason he refused to retaliate. Here I was, being a major jerk and calling him names, and he was agreeing! How was that fair! Why isn't he mad?

He hung his head. "I thought you were going to die for a couple hours back there," he admitted.

I said nothing. There was a long pause.

"The last thing I remember you saying to me was 'see you when you stop being a jerk!' and I can't even remember that last thing I said to you. Imagine if you had died, and that was my last memory," he said, not looking at me.

Still I said nothing. Eventually, he looked up to me.

"So just because I got hurt you expect me to forgive you?" I asked, sounding as angry as I could. I can totally understand why he isn't mad at me anymore; if I had been in his position, I would have been pulling my hair out worrying about him. But that didn't mean that I was ready to forgive him.

He shook his head. "You don't have to," he said.

Again, we sat in silence. At last my mom walked in again, looking exasperated.

"It's 9:45. Fang, you need to go home and sleep. You've been awake for over 24 hours. If you don't, I will… do something," she said, knowing that she couldn't control either of us, even on a good day.

24 hours!?

"I slept for about an hour while I was waiting on her," he said indifferently, jerking his thumb in my direction.

I nearly sighed. That's Fang for ya. He got to play hero and be awake for hours on end when it didn't matter if he was asleep or awake. Then I realized that it was almost 10 in the morning. We had gotten up at about 8, so he had been awake for 26 hours, with only an hour nap. And, somewhere in that time span, he had kicked some eraser butt, flew top speed away from them, and then kicked some more erasers butt. He had to be exhausted.

"Your call I guess, but that is a doctor's opinion. As for you…" she turned to me, and took my pulse again.

"Is it normal?" Fang asked, sounding glad to be off the sleeping topic.

"Her pulse? Yes, but I'm keeping her for another hour just to be sure. At 11 you can leave; just put on one of those white coats and walk out normally. Oh, and don't forget to tell me you're leaving!" she reminded me. I nearly snickered; it was hard getting used to having to report where you were. Well, I didn't have to, but it was common courtesy. Yes, I am going to show my mom some courtesy. Don't even laugh, because if you can't even show your parents any after all they do for you, then you need some help.

"Sure, sure," I replied, knowing that I would tell her, and love that I had someone to tell who cared, even if I acted like it was a pain.

My mom smiled slightly, and turned to leave. "Fang, lock this behind me," she said. He did.

"Fang, go to sleep," I said in my normal tone for ordering people around. It hadn't ever worked very well with Fang, but if he wanted back in my good graces, he would listen.

He didn't move. "Fang, I'm still pissed at you, so lay down and sleep before I kill you slowly," I threatened.

He sat on the floor, but didn't move any further.

"So this means you're not mad at me?" he asked.

"Not at all," I paused, making him think that was all I was going to say before I finished my sentence, "what I mean is that it would suck to explain to the flock that you were dead because you were too stupid to sleep." I laced as much anger into my voice as I could, and I think it did the trick.

His expression twisted for a fraction of a second before he was back to being impassive.

He nodded, and leaned up against the wall. In seconds, he had stopped moving. I watched him for a good five minutes before I looked away, still not quite sure if he was sleeping or not.

A minute later, I was looking at him again. This time, I was noticing more of how his hair flopped exactly right over this eyes, but not in a shaggy way, more of a way that seems natural, and how with his arms crossed, his biceps were slightly flexed. None of us had bulging muscles or we wouldn't be able to fly, but Fang had some dang big muscles. And his eyes, they were such a deep brown…

Wait, his eyes?! He was supposed to be sleeping!

Suddenly he smirked. "See something you like?" he asked arrogantly.

"Yup, I just got a mental image of my combats hitting your face," I said, quickly coming up with a cover, and desperately hoping that I wasn't blushing.

"You sure?" he asked, still sounding cocky and arrogant.

I winced dramatically. "Ouch," I said, rubbing my nose, acting like I was just imagining the pain of getting kicked in the face. He didn't fall for it.

"So it took you five minutes to imagine kicking me?" he asked, cornering me with his words.

I said nothing. I couldn't think of anything that wouldn't make me sound like a fool. So I settled for, "Just go to sleep."

He smirked even bigger.

"If you'll keep your eyes to yourself," he muttered, not expecting a response.

I nearly screamed in frustration.

I lay back down, and rolled over, so my back was too him. I can't believe I just did that….

I wasn't tired though. I had just slept for hours, so I didn't really sleep. After a while, I noticed how even though I was wrapped in a thick blanket, my side hurt. I'd slept on cave floors sure, but metal was another thing. It was uncomfortable, and brought up memories of being strapped to a surgery table, and having those damn white coats injecting god only knows what into my veins.

So I sat back up, feeling irrational relief that I was able to sit up. I knew I was fine; I was in my mom's office, so of course I was fine, but I was still feeling kind of freaked out.

I sat cross-legged on the table and thought about what had happened. So the school had some tricks up their sleeves? Making poison so that if we got cut, we basically died? Smart, but twisted.

I wondered what else they had that we didn't know about. When the Eraser took the knife out, he had said 'you aren't supposed to know about this yet,' so that told me there is more being hidden. I don't like that.

As I was sitting there, I felt my legs start to cramp up. So I very slowly, because my joints were kinda messed up, stood up. I had been sitting for a long time, so just about every joint in my leg cracked. It would have been embarrassing, but I was alone. Other than Fang, anyway, who was supposed to be asleep.

Supposed was the operative word in the last sentence if you didn't notice. When is the last time you knew Fang to do something simply because he is supposed to? Yeah, I can't remember the last time either.

His eyes were wide open, and he was busy rubbing the sleep out of them.

"Ev'ry ting ok?" he said, slurring the words a little bit.

"Yeah. Go back to sleep," I said back, sounding as forceful as I could while trying to keep my voice quiet.

"Nah, I'm up now," he said, and stretched his arms slightly.

"Are you trying to frustrate me?" I asked, glaring down at him.

There was a long silence, and we both knew that I wasn't expecting a response for my jab.

"I don't know why you thought I said that I didn't think you were a good leader, but I didn't say that," he said suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Don't even get me going on what you said," I warned.

"Seriously? Are you really going to pretend everything you said was appropriate?" he asked, not sounding half as angry as me.

"I thought you said you weren't mad anymore," I said, knowing he was right; I had crossed the line in that fight too.

"I'm not," he said.

"Well it sounds like you are," I said.

"I'm not!"

"Yeah, I bet."

"God, Max! Are you really going to be like this?! I was trying to say sorry you know," he said angrily.

"Here we go again…" I retorted, a bit immaturely.

He took a deep breath. "I get it if you don't like me, Max. I would be fine with that, but damn it, you do! You like me back, and we both know that, so stop pretending that you don't!" he huffed, somehow ending up standing.

I was shell shocked. I didn't know what to say, I mean, I was soo not ready for another one of these conversations, especially not right now when I couldn't run away.

"Fang, please," I mumbled, knowing he would understand that I was basically begging him to stop. Well, as close as I ever came to begging anyhow.

"You can't hide behind your excuses for your whole life. You know just as well as me that saying you don't have time is just another excuse," he said, calming his voice down a little bit.

"Saving the world is an _excuse_? What about Angel, Gazzy, and even Nudge? What do you think they would think?" I asked, trying desperately not to get really angry, or anything that involves me losing my temper and setting his off too.

"They don't mind," he said. "In fact, they all think it would be a great idea," he added after seeing my expression.

I stared blankly at him. He did not seriously ask the kids if they were okay with us being together?!

"Angel said that it would be nice, that it would 'be cute'," he said, putting connotations on 'be cute'.

"You're going to listen to a six year old?" I asked him, looking at him like he was an insane person. I really didn't want to do this right now.

"What is your real problem with us?" he asked, getting angry again.

I put my head in my hands. "Fang, we're on the run all the time. It wouldn't work," I said, knowing that I would end up getting overwhelmed and not being able to take it all in.

"You don't know that," he replied, glancing at the door.

"Even if we didn't get sick of each other," blasphemy, "we wouldn't be able to do couple-y things. We can't walk around holding hands, or go on dates or any thing else that couples do," I said hating that it was true. Fang was making it sound so easy for everything to work out.

"Max, I hate being on the run, just like you do, but we can't let it control our lives! We've run away the whole time we haven't spent in cages, and since then you have devoted yourself to everyone else. Do something for yourself, just this once!" he said heatedly.

My head was still in my hands, and I felt that overwhelming hurt in my chest again.

"Sorry if I pushed you too hard," he muttered, apologizing so quietly that he may as well have not said anything.

Damn him! Why does he always do this?! A year ago, things were fine. Before he had to get all… mushy and gushy and whatever else he was being right now. Here he is making me look like the bad guy, because I'm not ready to be in a… relationship. He needs to get that it isn't my fault! As much as I like him, I'm not the sort of girl who goes on dates and holds hands with some guy, and then goes walking down the pier with him swinging arms like a drunken monkey. That isn't me!

I shook my head as a lone tear rolled down my cheek. I quickly wiped it away, not wanting to let Fang know that I was so weak as to cry over something this dumb.

He reached out and grabbed my wrists, pulling them away from my face. I shook my head some more.

"Just a minute," I muttered, embarrassed.

He hugged me around my middle, which was easier than I would have liked it to be, and I instinctively tensed up.

He didn't let go, or loosen his hold at all. He just kept hugging me. Finally after a long awkward moment, I wrapped my arms around him in return.

He sighed and said, "It's as easy as this, Max. This easy," before gently loosening his arms, my cue to let go of him.

He took my face in between his hands, which reached from my jaw to up past my temples, and then looked into my eyes. My eyes flicked to his lips.

Parted slightly, with just a hint of a grin tugging at there corners, he looked… different, happy even.

"It could work," he said. I shook my head.

"No, it can't," I replied, hating that it was true.

"It could work," he repeated.

I just shook my head.

"Let's just give it a try," he suggested.

I said nothing. "Max, if it doesn't work, then it doesn't work. But that won't happen, because it will work. And no one will have a problem with it," he tried convincing me.

"And if we split up?" I asked.

"We won't," he assured me.

"But if we do?" I asked.

"Then we will break up. But the flock will stay together Max. I promised I wouldn't leave you, and I still won't."

I let that soak in, absorbing it.

"I promise," he said. I looked at his eyes. The only thing I saw there was honesty. Now I was stuck. God he made it sound so tempting, and easy.

Suddenly, he smiled and leaned forward.

His lips brushed mine and he whispered into my lips, "It will work, Max, just watch," before he kissed me.

When I kissed Fang… I got disconnected from my body. I couldn't control my hand, that's why they instantaneously started running through his hair. I definitely couldn't control my legs, which is why I ended up standing pressed against him rather than sitting on the table like a good girl.

He grinned hugely, which, in turn, made me grin right along with him. He pulled back, "That is definitely a yes," he said.

I didn't say anything; I was still near panting from our little… kiss-y face session.

"Max?"

"Huh?" I asked.

"Is that a yes?" he asked, hopefully.

"Well you just said it was, didn't you?" I answered, knowing full well that I was probably going to regret this more than anything else in my entire life.

He grinned again. "I did, didn't I?" he replied. "Well, it's almost 11 so you should probably put a coat on."

I didn't want to, not a white coat. He saw my face turn stubborn.

"Come on Max, just for a minute. Unless you don't care if your mom gets caught being a host for rabid experiments," Fang said.

"I'm not rabid!" I replied vehemently.

"That's what you think," he muttered. I sighed, and got up to put on one of the forbidden (or not so…) white coats.

I swallowed down the bile that rose into my mouth and burned my tongue.

"You all right?" Fang asked gently, grabbing my hand.

I nodded slightly. "Let's go."

And we walked out of that room. Holding hands. Yes, holding hands. Like a couple. Which we sort of were.

Oh boy, how was my mom going to take this?

**A/N Ok so here you are. I got 2 beta's for this chapter, so tell me if you notice a better sentence structure. so, make sure you thank Miz636 (and check out her story!) and miromyth helped this time to! so check out her story to, its a oneshot, but it is very good. **

**So, they finally got together. What do you think? up to your standards? good...? please give me a hell of a lot more feedback then i have gotten for the last few chapters b/c sersoulsy, when im getting less than 20 reviews, and about 5 of them are bad, that dosent encourage me to write very much. so please, if youve got time to read this whole fucking story, then you sure as hell have time to review. that wasnt me being a bitch, that was just... me being frusterated with stuff. so please, review becasue**

**REVIEWS ARE BETTER THAN WAKING UP TO FANG SITTING NEXT TO YOU HOLDING YOUR HAND!**


	27. Shame

Chapter 26

Max's pov

Fang grabbed the backrest of the chair and pulled it aside so that we could get out. I poked my head outside of the door. No sight of my mom.

I walked out, squaring my shoulders, and turned a corner heading into the 'employees only' section. I saw my mom.

"Dr. Martinez!" I called.

"Ahh, Intern Price, how is the dog feeling?" she asked, pausing slightly as she came up with a name for me. Fang had told me he was 'Intern Jogia.' Apparently, we were helping out with the dog because my mom was short on help for the day.

"She is good," I said, noticing when my mom spotted my hand, and expecting her reaction. Her eyes bulged.

She looked around frantically. We were alone in the room, me, her, and Fang. "Max, you can't let people see that. We can't have questions," she said frantically. "You're supposed to be interns helping watch a stray dog and making sure that he doesn't go into cardiac arrest!"

I took a deep breath and nodded. "Can we go now?" I asked, wanting to get home and check everyone else out, to make sure they were all ok, even though Fang said they were. I needed to see for myself.

"Yeah. You're fine once you get out of the office. And we'll talk tonight. I want to know what happened… to your hand," she added as an afterthought, looking at Fang.

"Sure," I said, just as the door swung open and someone bustled in.

"Thank you for coming in on such short notice Interns Jogia and Price," my mom thanked us, sounding more like we were military or police rather than 'interns'.

I nodded, "Anytime. Are you sure you have enough help now?" I asked, knowing that she would tell me I could leave now, and no one would think twice about the exchange. She had interns all the time, so this would draw no one's attention.

"Yes. We will need you to come back in next Wednesday if you are free."

"I may have an interview set up, so I will get back to you if I will or will not be able to make it," I lied smoothly, hoping that I was not too casual about it.

"That sounds fine. Good luck!" she said, her voice sounding very false to my ears, but the other vet who had walked in didn't look up. Fang and I turned and walked through the doors. I was thankful that they opened either way, because I forgot to look to see if you pushed or pulled them, and I really didn't want to make a fool out of myself.

"You think she's mad?" Fang asked me somberly after we walked out the door.

"I think she's furious. Maybe we should call this whole thing off." I said, not entirely sure if I was joking or not.

He looked me dead in the eyes, "I will never call this off."

That sure as heck silenced me. I nodded, vowing to myself that no matter what, if I was having an issue with something, I would go to Fang with it.

"Max, you don't really want that and we both know it. I'm irresistible," he joked, catching me _way_ off guard.

I almost made some sarcastic comment, but I decided that I probably shouldn't, because we had much more to worry about than senseless bickering.

"Whatever. So, should we tell everyone about our… agreement?" I asked, not knowing how the gang would respond to me and Fang being… together, I guess you would say. Man that sounds… different.

"The _agreement_, nothing. They will notice soon enough," he replied, seeming peeved at me for sounding so cautious. As much as I liked the idea of us…, I was wary. I'm not going to deny it; I was scared of what could happen to me, or him, or the flock in general. But I said I would try it, and I was going to. Even if I was scared, because we _all_ know that I am not one to succumb to my fears.

"Alright," I said as we veered from the parking lot onto the dirt road that no one had been on all day, as far as I could see. We were going to take off a little bit farther down it.

We walked in silence for a few minutes before I wiped my hands on my jeans nervously, noticing how they were sweating pretty badly. Almost as soon as I did this, Fang grabbed my hand. He didn't look at me; he just stared directly ahead of him.

Well, I didn't look at him either, and we walked in silence for a few more minutes before he decided that it was safe to fly.

By him deciding, I meant that he lifted his backpack up just enough so that he could unfurl his wings. I followed his lead, and soon we were heading for home…I mean, my mom's home…

We flew just as we had walked, in silence. Soon enough, I saw the neighbor's house, which was about half of a mile away from moms. I shifted my secondary feathers a little and started slowly heading down.

Fang, being the freakin' graceful bird-kid I know, shifted some feathers I don't even think I can move, and started spiraling down so slowly and in such a wide circle that even the hawks he learned from would have been jealous. And here I thought I was good because I just moved some feathers and started goin' down. Way to kill my confidence Fang!

Now, we all know that he did that on purpose, right? I do something that I'm proud of, and then he had to one-up it.

"Well thank you," I said sarcastically, just before I landed. I let out an unnoticeable huff as my feet hit the ground slightly harder than I intended them to.

"What?" he asked innocently. Innocence my butt!

I just shook my head and said, "Nothing," blowing it off.

We walked in the house and there was sheer and utter silence. For about a half a second. Then there was… sheer and utter… loudness for a few hours.

First was Ella. She jumped out of her chair and ran towards me, but hesitated before hugging me because she wasn't sure if it would hurt me. That lost her the chance to be the first to hug me. Angel stole her place.

Not three seconds after I walked into the house, I was at the bottom of a giant pile of mutants of two different kinds, a normal dog that was sitting more on the edge of the pile than anything, and one normal human.

You would think that it would be kinda quiet, right? I mean, 'cause no one could breathe. Oh, right, it was only me that couldn't breathe, but that was because I was at the bottom of the pile!

"Thank God you're okay!"

"Finally up and kickin' eh?" Ahh, the sympathy _must_ be Iggy.

"Even though I knew you would be fine, it's good to see you! Granted, it's only been a couple of hours, but still!"

"Mom's got some cookies made. I saved some for you!" Ella shouted above the rest. That got my attention, and, although I continued hugging everyone, I shot my gaze to her.

One word was all I needed. "Where?"

She smiled, and walked off to the kitchen. She shouted over her shoulder, "Hold on for 5 minutes! Mom didn't cook them all the way, so that I could put 'em in when you got here and they would be still warm!"

Man I loved my family. I smiled appreciatively, even though I knew she couldn't see it.

Everyone was still babbling around me, and I could definitely tell the voices apart, but it was hard to tell what they were saying.

I started to feel a bit wobbly and crunched, so I unscrunched my face to try to clear my head a little bit. I looked at the clock, and realized that I hadn't eaten in 12 hours. That would explain the hunger pains.

"Guys!" I said over all the voices, "I'm going to get food; I'll tell you what happened later, sound good?" Iggy was the only one who showed that he had heard me. He nodded, but kept talking and shooting questions at me.

I grabbed Fang's hand and took one step before near silence fell on the room. Only Iggy continued talking.

"Forgot to tell me that it was an hour and you were tired, and I fell asleep. Good job Fang. So do you, know… what…," and Iggy stopped talking. He noticed the silence. Angel looked at him, and I knew that she was filling him in. His eyes dropped to about where our hands were.

All eyes were staring at my hand interlaced with Fangs. Nudges mouth was slightly open, and Angel had a grin on her face.

I looked around, half begging someone to say something, half daring them.

A few rooms over, I heard the timer go off, signaling that the cookies were ready. Saved by the… cookies!

I ran to the kitchen, and snatched the glass of milk out of Ella's hand. I hopped up onto the counter, and grabbed a cookie‒ which Ella had taken off the pan, thankfully, 'cause I would have burned myself trying to get one. I stuffed it into my mouth, and melted right along with the chocolate.

"Mmmmm," was the only word (or not…word) that came out of my mouth for the next… oh, I'd say five minutes.

Fang came over with some cookies, and leaned on the counter next to me. Ella sat across the kitchen on one of the barstools, looking at me curiously.

"Even though it might sound dumb to say it, I'm glad you're ok, Max," she said after a few moments.

I held up my finger and shook my head, all the while still saying "Mmmmm", and hoping that I wasn't offending her by not saying anything.

She laughed. "Well, I'm off. I'm going to go get the full story from the others while you devour the poor, unsuspecting cookies," she said, and left the kitchen. For a few more minutes, I just ate cookies.

"Want me to get Ig to make you some grub?" Fang asked.

I shook my head. "I'm just gonna go warn the others about the poison and tell them…" I was cut off by a shriek from the living room.

Ella came stomping down the hallway leading up to us, and she sounded like a banshee. "HOW did you not tell me?! You had at least five minutes to tell me you were together!"

I shook my head. "I'll tell you later. First of all, I have some bodies to murder then bury," I said heading to the living room. Really, did they think it was necessary to tell the world that I held Fang's hand? I didn't find it necessary.

Ok, so maybe I did want to scream it out to the world, but I wasn't going to, was I? No, I was refraining, just like they should be.

I walked calmly out into the living room and looked around for about ten seconds with my hands on my hips. "Is anybody going to fess up?" I asked, looking everyone dead in the eyes.

Curiously, everyone seemed to find something interesting on their feet at the same time. Odd, isn't it? "Whatever. Let me just say one thing though, nobody say one word to anyone outside of this house. My mom knows, so don't bother squealing on me for all the extra chores I gave you when you were younger," I said, directing the latter part of the statement at Gazzy. He grinned guiltily at me, telling me that that was exactly what he had planned.

There was silence. I sat down on the biggest, fluffiest chair in the house, and got comfortable, waiting for the interrogation to begin. Just as I had expected, Nudge started.

"Alright, so you were fine one minute when you were with Fang, then you what, just took a nap in a hollowed out tree trunk and got cut? Oh, or did you try a new landing and cut it on something? No, no I got it; you were leaving a false trail in case any of the Erasers came back for us! Yes, ok, well now it makes sense. But why would you cut yourself so deep? Oh. You didn't do it. You were already cut, and you just left a little trail for them. Okayyy," she said, finally done shooting out her ridiculous theories of what had happened.

"You done?" I asked, smiling. She blushed a dark pink, and then nodded.

"Sorry."

I smiled. "No biggie. Anyhow, the Erasers have a new weapon. It's just a knife on the inside of their belt. The blade is of average size, but it is razor sharp. The blades, and possibly the handles, are covered in poison. We aren't supposed to know about this yet, so I think it is going to be used pretty widely soon if it is that high profile. Even just a little cut, because that's all mine was, can cause some big problems.

"The poison is somewhat like acid in a way. My cut was maybe 2 inches long, but the poison burned the edges away, so now it goes from my thumb to the edge of my palm. It hurts guys, so don't let the knife touch you. And the poison slows your heart; the faster your blood pumps, the faster the poison spreads. Go it?" I said. I wasn't trying to scare them, but I really was worried that sometime in the all to near future, this stuff was going to be _major_ for Itex.

A few seconds after I stopped talking, everyone started nodding. Even Ella nodded, although I knew that if the Erasers decided to hurt her, they could. Unfortunately, because humans are weaker than Erasers, and Ella is a human, she wouldn't stand a chance without some major backup. Like a Magnum 357. But that would only help her if she had the aim, of course.

"So everyone else is ok then?" I asked, finally reassuring myself that everyone was fine, even though I could see that they were ok.

A few hours later, we were all relaxing on the couch when I heard a car pull up in the driveway. I looked out the window instinctively.

It was my mom.

Oh boy, here was the talk about 'what happened to my hand'. This was going to be interesting…

**A/N not a lot accomplished here... but this is setting us up for the next chapter, where stuff will happen!**

**The reviews picked up slightly, but I am still pretty dissappointed. I have over 120 people who get an alert every time I post, yet only about 15 of them review. Please, if you are one of those people, review. And if this is your first time reading this story, and you have recently discovered it so it's not on your alert list, add me and then review! Thank you very much to those of you who do review. **

**And yet again, I would like to thank Miromyth who is the wonderful bebta of this chapter. **

**Dont forget to review, then go and check out 'Old and New Collide' by Miz636. Thanks!**


	28. Learning to shoot

Learning to shoot

Max's pov

I had the talk with my mom, who really did want to know what happened to my hand- as well as what changed my mind about being angry with Fang. I told her he apologized, but my blushing gave away that there was a little something extra that I wasn't saying. She didn't push, which was cool of her.

We all went to sleep happy that night, and the next morning when I got up, she said she was getting off of work early, and that Fang and I needed an excuse to get out of the house without the kids coming. She told us that we were going to learn to shoot a gun today.

So, on that note, I went into the living room, having just been kicked out of the kitchen by Iggy who was cooking breakfast, after I stuck my finger in the pancake batter. Nudge and Ella were sitting in the living room watching 'house hunters.' I sat down on the loveseat and pulled my feet up onto the chair.

"So guys, I won't be here tonight, so you will have to keep the house from totally blowing up. Sound good?" I said nonchalantly, during the reviews for the houses, knowing that they wouldn't cause a scene during this.

"Where ya going?" Ella asked. Oh boy… I didn't have anywhere… I couldn't tell them where I was really going; I didn't want them to know. I don't know why, but I felt that it was important to not let anyone know where I was going, other than Fang, who would be with me, and my mom, who was going to teach me. If Itex was going to have secret weapons, so was I.

"Whoa! Did you see that fence in the background?!" I asked with enthusiasm, trying to distract them. I didn't have a planned location of where I would supposedly be.

Now Nudge turned her attention to me, too. "Fine. I'm going into the woods to look for a few good places to hide, but I don't want us all out there, leaving all our scents leading them to one place, here. So just Fang and I are going, and we are trying to confuse anyone following us as much as we can. As long as you promise not to abuse it, I might leave you in charge. So can you guys watch the house? If I leave it to Iggy, he might blow it up," I said, giving them an excuse that seemed feasible, and a reason to agree.

Ella got a sly grin on her face. "So just you and Fang, huh?" she hinted, raising her eyebrows up and down suggestively. I narrowed my eyes, not amused.

"Mom won't be home either; she will be out finding someone who can replace the porch…" I trailed off guiltily, hoping that they would buy it. They did.

"Alrighty. But only if we get to order pizza!" Nudge yelled, sounding excited at the prospect of being in charge. I smiled.

"Maybe," and walked I upstairs. Now I had to tell Iggy about our plans to 'scout the forests.' Something told me he wasn't going to be as easy to convince.

A half hour later, after telling Iggy that we were trying to find a good place to hide out for a while, if we got overwhelmed or in case my mom needed to hide out. He thought it was a good idea, with what happened in Virginia and all, so he was up for the idea.

He was pretty frustrated with the fact that he wouldn't be any help, but I put him in charge of stocking it with all of the things that would be needed to live for there for two days. Food that wouldn't spoil, water, those sorts of things. Although I had to remind him a few times that bomb material wasn't an essential item, it went pretty well.

So then I went to find Fang. I had put this off, because I really wasn't sure exactly what we would be doing, but I figured that if I didn't tell him about how my mom was going to teach how to handle guns today, then it would bite me in the butt. Iggy or someone else would say something to him about it, and when he had no idea that he was going to be looking for a hiding place today, they would get suspicious. So I hunted him down.

When I finally found him, he was sitting in his room, on his computer. Blogging, most likely.

"Hey," I said, catching his attention. He knew I was there; he is one of the few people I can't sneak up on.

He nodded his head, acknowledging that he had heard me.

"So my mom told me she is getting off work early to show us how to shoot. Guns," I added unnecessarily.

"Oh?" I had his interest now.

I nodded. "Yup. I told everyone that we are going to be looking for a good place to hide out for a few days if the need arises. My mom will be out looking for a new railing for the porch, as far as they know," I said.

He nodded, "Sounds good."

"So I guess we _will_ have to go looking for a place to hide out, just not tonight. We can tell them we didn't find anything that is big enough to keep us all together, and if it comes to the point where we need to hide out, we want to be together because it is safer," I said, knowing that it would be a good idea anyways to have a safe house prepared for my mom and sister just in case something happened and they needed one.

"Sounds good," he muttered, looking back to his laptop.

Now I was curious. What could be so interesting to him that he felt the need to basically ignore me? When I saw the screen, I got kinda frustrated. He was looking at models for future houses. As in, he was researching where we could do our next ambush.

I mean, I knew that he wanted to get a move on things and hurry this all along, but really, he was the one who wanted to learn to shoot guns and here he was not even paying attention to me as I told him the plans.

"Well I guess I'll leave you to it then," I said coldly, as I got up. He didn't even look up from his computer.

When I went back into the living room, I saw a very horrifying sight. Nudge had a smirk on her face worthy of Fang. What was up?

"Hey guys what'cha doin?" I asked. Nudge looked up to me, still smirking, but a bit less evilly.

"Ella and I just bet on who gets to pick the next movie we watch. If she can 'tame' my hair, then she picks. Otherwise, I pick. So, we all know that I'm going to win and get to pick, but she doesn't believe me. She thinks that her detangling spray will fix it. I hope so, even if she does get to pick the next movie. We have basically the same taste so it isn't a big deal, but still," she finished. I rolled my eyes.

"Good luck Ella," and plopped down onto the couch next to Angel. "Did you have any part of Ella agreeing to this?" I murmured to her, hoping that she wouldn't have. I was not in the mood to lecture her.

She smiled at me, having apparently read my mind. "No I didn't, thank you very much! Have some faith in me," she said with mock hurt.

"Well you did just read mine," I said to her, not truly caring.

"No I didn't," she replied.

"Hon, don't lie. You were laughing at the lecture comment, right?"

"Well yeah, but it was more like, I knew how you were feeling, like… you projected to me that you hoped I didn't because you weren't feeling very lecture-like," she said, and then scrunched up her eyebrows. "Do you think I'm getting a new power?!" she exclaimed.

I silently hoped not, and put up my mind block. "Maybe. It sounds a lot like your old one, so maybe it is just expanding. Getting stronger," I said. I really hoped that was it.

Her smile faltered for just a second. "So our abilities can get stronger?"

"I'm not really sure, honey. I would think so, once we can control them, and once we practice them. But I don't really know," I admitted.

She nodded. I looked at the clock. It was almost time for my mom to come home, so I went upstairs to Fang's room. "You better come downstairs. My mom will be home soon," and I stood in the doorway waiting for him.

He wasn't on his computer when I came up; he was just staring off into space. Or the wall, whichever. He got up, and I heard his knees crack.

"Someone's getting old," I said, just messing with him. He grinned.

"Yup, that's me alright, I'll be getting grey soon," he joked. I was glad to see him paying attention to me again. It frustrated me when he ignored me.

"I wonder how she'll teach us," I commented as we headed down the stairs.

No sooner had I sat down than my mom's car pulled up into the driveway. "Here goes nothing," I muttered to Fang.

"You guys ready?" my mom asked. My only answer was my getting up and heading outside. She smiled at me, showing me that the lesson would go fine.

I opened the door of her SUV and jumped into the front seat. As soon as my mom got in the car and we sped off, I asked the question that both Fang and I had pondered all day.

"So how do you plan to teach us?" I asked.

She smiled. "Well, I wasn't quite sure, because it's not like you will be hunting. If you need the gun, it will be to protect yourself. So a shooting range won't work. So I decided to take you to a place where you can shoot other people, while trying to avoid getting shot," she said. Shot? That wasn't on my schedule for the day…

"Elaborate, please," I said, feeling like my throat was closing up. Where, in America, was it legal to shoot other people?

"A paintball range. I know it isn't nearly the same as a gun, but it will teach you to learn to take aim, while running away from others. Today it will just be regular paintballs," she said. I breathed a silent sigh of relief. I knew she wouldn't let me get hurt, too badly anyhow, so I was definitely feeling a bit better now.

And she was right too, she would have to teach us to shoot a real gun, and perfect our aim, but we needed to be able to move and shoot, not aim at a target that was 50 feet away. We needed somewhere you can shoot and not die if you get hit. Paintball.

I nodded.

"Next week, if you guys do well today, then I will take you to a range about 2 hours from here. You can shoot with frozen paintballs there. It hurts really badly when they are frozen, from what I've been told, and I'm hoping that will help you to avoid getting shot better," she said, sounding nervous about taking us there. "Is that ok with the two of you?" she asked.

I nearly snorted. We had been torn to shreds plenty of times; getting splashed with a bit of paint wouldn't be too bad. Sure, I had heard that paintballing can hurt; it can leave welts, blah, blah, blah. Not to sound self-righteous or anything but I was sure we could take it.

We pulled up to the range. When I looked around, I saw stacks of hay, big cement construction tubes, and other assorted things to hide behind. It looked like a place where they trained military people .

Good. We had to be better than the military guys.

My mom parked, and we walked up to the front desk. The man behind it smiled at us, looking us over.

"Have you ever been here?" both Fang and I shook our heads. "Then both you and your parent or guardian needs to sign this waver, saying that if you choose to go in, and you get injured, you can't sue."

Huh. Alright. I stared at the form for a few minutes, seeming like I was reading it over, then I signed it. I wasn't great at cursive. As in, I didn't know any, so I just printed my name. My mom signed for both me and Fang. My mom signed with the same last name that we had agreed on in the car, Boykin.

And we were in. The man directed us to a shed-like building, where you got your equipment if you didn't bring your own. No one rented padding, because the rental padding was so thin, it was like you weren't wearing any at all.

This was, essentially, what we needed. If we needed to pull the gun out in a fight, we were going to be afraid. We needed to become used to shooting while we were scared. Fang and I walked up to the shed, strolling up to the counter.

"Uh, can we rent some equipment?" I asked, feeling somewhat dumb, because I had no clue what I was talking about. The guy smirked.

"This your first time?" he asked, looking both me and Fang over like we were fresh meat. It was somewhat unnerving.

I nodded. He disappeared for a minute. He came back with two big buckets of stuff. "So I'm assuming you want the full padding, because it's your first time, right?" he asked.

I looked at Fang. "What do most people here wear?" I asked, noticing that most people had on some leather gloves, and goggles too.

"Just the required," he said.

"That's all we want then," Fang replied.

The guy laughed. "I'm pretty surprised you guys even got in. But I suppose that you didn't tell the front guy this was your first time ever paintballing, did you? Well, here you can shoot with any type of paintball gun, any power- there are different courses for different types of guns- and people can get hurt here. The waiver is so you can't sue us," he paused. "So I think you should do full padding this time," he said.

I thought about it for a moment. When I looked at Fang, he was thinking the same thing as me. Required amount only.

"I think the required amount will work for us," I answered. He shook his head.

"You guys both look tough, but when you get shot, don't complain that I didn't suit you up right," he said, taking a deep breath. He handed each of us goggles, which weren't as uncomfortable as I thought they would be, and a set of gloves. Mine were a bit big on me, but I didn't say anything.

He pointed to another shed about ten feet away. "That is where you get your guns. Keep your slip, that is how we will know how much to charge for guns. Good luck, and see you soon," he said, waving us off like he expected us back in a few minutes for new padding.

We walked over to where you picked out your artillery and I looked at the guns on the walls. They looked deadly, even though I knew that they probably wouldn't even hurt.

"And how may I help you?" said a voice from behind us. I turned, and as I did I saw a man wiping his hands on a towel and going in the back door, into the shed. "Hope you weren't waiting too long, had to use the john."

"Nope. We just need to rent some guns," Fang said, admiring all the different deadly- looking tools on the wall.

"Alright, do you know what kind?" the guy asked. I looked at Fang. We both shook our heads at the same time. The guy laughed.

"What is the most… uh, powerful?" I asked.

"A T16. But I'm not giving that to you, missy. The recoil itself would probably knock you down. And, you must be pretty new if you don't know that yet. How bad do you want it to hurt when you get hit?" he asked. I almost said something about the recoil comment, but I didn't know what I was talking about, and for all I knew, he was right.

So I held my tongue, with some difficulty.

I didn't have an answer to that one, I mean, I wanted to be afraid to get hit, but I didn't want it to hurt like when I got shot by those goonies that tried to hurt Ella.

"Ahh," I said intelligently.

He smiled again. "Ok, how about a semi- automatic?" he asked. Does he not get that those words mean nothing to me? "It fires as fast as you can pull the trigger. They won't kill you, but they can hurt."

I nodded. "Sounds good."

"So we have three types of semi- automatics," he trailed off. I groaned. "But I don't feel like explaining al of them to you. How about I pick the choice that I think would fit each of you best?" he asked, sounding sincere.

I shrugged. "Alright. Sounds good," I responded.

He came back a few seconds later with two guns. One looked like a torture device; the other just looked like your average bazooka. He handed the bazooka- looking one to me, and the torture one to Fang.

"I suggest that you each get about 100 paintballs apiece, and once you put them in this," he pointed to a big open area on each of our guns, "and they won't all fit at once, then you check your carbon dioxide capacity. That is what makes the paintballs shoot. Right here," he pointed to a little scale, "is where it tells you. When it gets in the red zone, come back for a fill up. Questions?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Not yet."

"If you have any, ask me, or anyone out there. They are all pretty honest. But not that one," he said, and pointed to a guy with a black ski mask on. Yes, like the kind the robbers wear. "She will tell anyone anything so she can get the upper hand. Yup, the only girl that comes here regularly, and she is one of most people's biggest worries," he said, looking discreetly away from the person in the black ski mask. "Oh! And you guys should go to that field over there, because everyone over there should have the same amount of firepower as you guys," he said, and we were off.

We headed to where you picked up the slip for the guns and bought the paintballs. You paid at the end, which was here. We put in the paintballs that would fit into their holders, then were off to the field.

My mom sat off to one side of the field, watching us. We both walked over to her, and handed her our extra paintballs. She smiled.

"You'll do fine. The first time will be the hardest, so no matter what happens, don't get discouraged," she said, sounding like mother who was sending her child off to boot camp. This was going to be no big deal, why was everyone making it seem like it was so dangerous?

I opened the gate to the 'battle of the balls' field. Something told me that name had a double meaning…

I took a deep breath, "Fang, please don't turn invisible. This is so we can learn to shoot, while dodging to keep from getting hit. And we should split up. Don't cover me, and I'm not going to cover you," I said. I didn't want to sound cold hearted, but that's what we were learning for; I didn't want Fang covering for me. If, and lets hope to God this never happens, but if it comes down to guns with the Erasers, I don't want Fang taking a bullet for me. So I don't want him to here either. And I needed to learn.

If every time someone shot at me, Fang punched them in the face, we would get kicked out. That would be bad, so I didn't want Fang to cover me.

He nodded slowly. "Well if you need help learning how to work the big mean gun, just find the guy with victims piled around him," Fang said with a smirk. Cocky guy, isn't he?

"Ya right," I muttered back. I was just about to pull my goggles on, when Fang leaned in and pecked me. My eyes widened, and I fought off the smile that was taking over my face just long enough to make sure my mom wasn't watching. It looked like she was whistling and looking in the other direction.

"Lucky for you, my mom isn't watching, or I would so… shoot you!" I said, before I put my goggles on, and took off running for the middle, where most of the action was taking place.

I heard him grunt and run in after me. Just as I looked over my shoulder, a blue ball went whizzing past my left ear. My eyes widened, and I saw Fang pick up his pace as I turned around. I saw the girl with the black ski-mask on staring at me, her gun raised.

I sighed, and fought off a smile. I could feel the adrenaline pumping already, and I smiled. Adrenaline makes everything more interesting, and for once, it wasn't pounding through me because I was fighting for my life. This time, it was because I was learning to protect it.

I raised my gun up and took aim at a random hay stack with a bull's eye painted on it. I pulled the trigger, and with surprisingly little effort, the gun fired.

Here we go.

**A/N Alright guys. Still pretty angry about the response of reviews i'm getting. i really hate when people do the chapter hostage thing, but really, when i get over 600 hits for the chapter in the first day, and get about 20 reviews for the chapter total, something is up. Are you guys loseing interest? Sometimes the story is slow, i know. But i promise you, it wont turn into one of those mushy gushy FF that is totally concentrated on Fax with no plot. this one has a very intricate plot, actually. **

**So, if that is what all you guys are afraid of, and that is why your not reviewing, then dont worry. But really, what is it that is stopping you guys from reviewing? I am writing all i can, even with exams this week, and a very complicated life right now. So please, review to make me usre that this story isnt just some... retarted FF that only I like. Becasue that is how i am beginning to feel. Review, if you have an opinion. **

**And please, if you totally hate this story, then Pm me, or review, it doesnt matter, and tell me why. i would like to know where i am screwing up the characters or whatever you dont like about this. Thank you very much. **

**ATTENTION ALL PAINTBALLERS! tell me if you notice anyting so far off that you will like... be bothered by it, ok? ive never been paintballing before, ive seem people do it before tho, so please tell me if something is super wrong in this. Thanks again!**


	29. Noticable

Max's pov

Several minutes after I learned how to shoot the gun, (though I was still having some issues with aim) I realized that I had made an enemy. The girl in the black ski cap seemed to have set her sights on me in particular.

I noticed it when I was hiding behind an enormous boulder, trying to take aim at one of the guys out there, and I got hit in the back. Right on my spine. Let's just say I underestimated how badly it would hurt, because it stung. Nothing unbearable, but it still hurt. So I turned, and saw her throw her head back and laugh. So I aimed at her, and totally missed by about five feet.

Since then, she has been tailing me, and every time I turn my back, she shoots it.

I ran into the woods there, knowing I would have an advantage because of my vision, and got behind a tree. I focused my eyes on something far away, and felt my raptor vision kick in. Seconds later; I poked my head and gun around the corner, and saw her ski covered face grinning at me. Ok, so I couldn't see her grinning, but I could just feel that she was grinning. I took aim, and with my eyes zoomed in, right on her chest, I fired, 3 times.

And suddenly she was jolted back, three times, and she stopped laughing. I had, for the first time, hit my mark. All three shots had hit her, square in the chest.

She raised her gun, and fired right for my face, with my raptor vision, I saw it coming. Knowing it would bug her, and also knowing that I had just enough time, I leaned slightly to the side, with a grin on my face. It whizzed right past my face. I stood up straight again, and ducked behind the tree.

I pressed the yellow button, and simultaneously lifted up the bubble, and checked to make sure I had enough paintballs to go at this chick. I did.

As soon as I snapped the lid closed, I jumped from around the corner, and took a rough aim, and pulled the trigger as fast as I could in quick succession.

Suddenly there was an explosion of blue and green paint about 15 feet from her. I looked like one of my paintballs that I fired hit one of hers. Shocked, I stopped firing for one second, and in that second, I was pelted by paintballs. I was nearly knocked to the ground, and when I stumbled back a few steps, and shook my head.

After several seconds, she girl took off running in the other direction. I raised my paintball gun, and took aim. But I didn't pull the trigger. Just because she had hit me with my back turned, I wasn't going to do it to her.

I ran after her, back into the field and checked my carbon dioxide tank. I was running a little bit low, so I refilled it, and ran over to my mom, restocking on paintballs, too.

I quickly ran back into the middle of the action, with my gun at my side, and decided that I should start a war… with Fang.

"Hey Nick!" I shouted over all the noise, and two head turned to me. Fang's head was one of them, and some other random guy. Fang grinned.

I raised my paintball gun, and his grin began to fade. I laughed, and took off running in the other direction. As I knew he would, he followed me, chasing me off into the woods.

I looked around, and saw that no one, other than Fang, was around, so I didn't have to watch my back. I jumped up, and grabbed a branch just over my head with one hand, and hung onto my gun with the other. Then I kicked my legs so I swung up onto the branch a little better, then I pulled myself up onto the main trunk of the tree, very ungracefully. Then I waited.

A few seconds later, I saw Fang run into the woods, barely being able to make out that it was even him because the brush was so thick. Then I cleared my throat. His head snapped to the direction of the noise, and look around.

I averted my gaze, knowing that with our instincts, if I stared to long, he would be able to pinpoint where I was. I raised my fun, and looked down at him, ten feet below me. I grinned, and coughed a tiny cough. He looked over to me, to see me, pointing a paintball gun at him, and then to see a big blue ball flying at him.

He was splattered with blue paint, and staggered a few steps back. He was back in no time, ready for another go.

I looked around, making sure that no one had showed up, and jumped from the tree, fifteen feet in the air. That might look funny to most humans. Then I tapped the end of my paintball gun on the tree, and then raised it, aiming for him from twenty feet away.

Just as I pulled the trigger, he jumped behind a tree, and ran out from behind the other side with paintballs flying. I was hit with three all at once, one hitting me smack in the chest. I fell back onto my butt in shock.

I had gotten hit with 8 paintballs this whole time I had been here, ranging from the back of my head, to the middle of my back, and none had hurt this bad.

As soon as the paint sprayed all over me, I felt the searing pain. I shut my eyes, and took a deep breath and feeling the hurt go even deeper than before.

I gasped, and felt the awful pain again. It seemed to hurt all the way to my lungs. I opened my eyes to see Fang standing there looking very confused.

"Max?" he began, "you're just faking it right?" he asked, sounding very concerned. All the other times I had gotten hit, none had been half that painful.

I nodded. "Yup," and raised my paintball gun halfheartedly. I grinned, trying to make it seem real, and fired at him. My aim was totally off, he didn't even have to move his feet to avoid getting hit. I stood up again, and leaned against a tree, trying to be inconspicuous.

"Max, you're not okay," he said walking forward. "Where did I hit you?" he asked, sounding very gentle. "I didn't mean to hurt you, you know."

I nodded. "Yeah, I don't really know why this one hurts so much. You just, uhh, hit a tender spot," I said.

His eyes flickered to my chest for less than a second then flew back to my face. "It hurts more than getting hit… uhh there, then on your arm?" he asked, sounding like it was totally new news to him. I fought off a smirk at his ignorance.

As soon as his words sunk in, I blushed a little bit. This was a very uncomfortable thing to talk about, I just shook my head.

"Let's just go turn in our stuff, and go home for the day," I said, ignoring his question.

He nodded, looking thoughtful. We walked out through the woods, and got into the main playing area. I was on alert, looking around for any flying paintballs. I saw none.

We made it about halfway before Fang suddenly pushed me off to the side. A split second later a paintball zoomed past my head. I turned around, raising my paintball gun as I did, and fired randomly in the direction that the shot came from. Somehow, I wasn't surprised to see the girl with the black ski-mask on.

Several paintballs later, we were walking out of the arena. I was still having a bit of trouble breathing and my chest was absolutely throbbing. I grabbed Fangs hand as we were walking out, noticing that he was still deep in thought.

"Something on your mind?" I asked him. I knew he would tell me when he felt it was the right time, but I really just wanted to know now.

He shook his head.

"Liar," I muttered. He flashed me a slight grin. We walked over to where we had rented the guns at, and placed them on the counter. This time, the man who rented them to us was there waiting.

"Surprised you two made it without padding," he said, looking over the guns for any sign of them getting bashed against a tree, or something of the sort. He found none, nodded, and put them under the counter. "Especially you missy," he said, looking at me. "How's your shoulder?" he asked, looking at where I had gotten hit on the chest.

Man was I glad he said shoulder, rather than where I had really gotten hit. "A bit sore. Fine though," I said, not looking at Fang. I knew he felt guilty about being the one who had shot me there.

Really, I wasn't mad at him for it. It's not like he aimed for there or anything, so there is no reason to feel bad.

"Pretty tough," he said, I nearly smirked. He had no idea. "Do you plan to come back any time soon?"

I nodded. Fang didn't. "We'll be back next week," I said with finality, showing Fang that we really were coming back. The man nodded.

"Well have a nice day then," he said, giving us a little wave that told us he needed to attend to the growing line behind us.

We walked over towards my mom, who was still sitting patiently in the stands. She looked up from the book she was reading and smiled at us. I waved to her, and grabbed Fang's hand. My face reddened slightly, and I started walking faster, hoping that Fang would think that I only grabbed his hand so he would keep pace with me.

When we got to my mom she had just finished putting her book away. "So you guys learn anything?" she asked. I nodded.

"But we still need to work on aim," I said. She nodded.

"In a few days we can. But today, we have to go home, and do a real quick look to see if we can even find some bad hiding places; just so they think that is what we were actually doing," She said.

"Uhh, what about the giant paint splatters?" I asked, gesturing to the huge circles of multi-color paint covering me.

"You have to totally cover yourself in mud to cover it up, I guess," she said. I noticed how it seemed like she hadn't quite planned that far ahead. Just like I never seemed to do.

"Great plan," I muttered. So I guess we were going to say that we had come across a swamp or something. Iggy would never let me live down that I took an unwanted mud bath.

We drove in silence for several more minutes, until I began to recognize the surroundings. We were about 5 minutes from home. "Hey mom, you should probably let Fang and me out, so that we get there at different times, and it doesn't look suspicious," I said, thinking that if Fang and I showed up covered in mud, and my mom wasn't, it would look odd.

She agreed. "Yeah, yeah. You always have to plan ahead, don't you?" she joked. She pulled off to the side of the road and me and Fang got out. "So I'll see you in about ten minutes? Covered in mud, right?" She checked. Both Fang and I nodded.

I nodded, and stepped out of the car. Fang jumped out after me, and my mom waited for us to step away from the car before she pulled away.

Fang and I began walking towards the house. About two minutes in, Fang pointed into the woods. "See that?" he asked.

I squinted, and I could barely make out some cattails deep into the woods. I started walking towards them as my answer.

"Wanna see something cool?" he asked, walking next to me.

"Sure."

The next thing I knew, I was alone in the woods. I couldn't see him anywhere. He was just gone. Some bushes moved off to my right, and I turned my body in that direction. Then I heard a noise behind me. And then another just in front of me.

I wasn't really afraid though, because I knew it had to be Fang. He had just made himself invisible; so I just shrugged and kept walking towards the swamp, knowing that he would eventually show himself.

I heard a twig snap about thirty feet in front of me, and I smiled. Mr. Swift and Silent wasn't so silent after all. Not when there wasn't any other noise to cover up the minute amount he made.

I walked a little further on, just until I was nearly at the edge of the swamp before I heard another noise. Fang's breathing.

"Must you do that?" I asked him, annoyed. He was breathing down the back of my neck again, and making me feel ridiculous for talking to- seemingly- myself.

"I'm only breathing," he replied. I just looked at him; where I thought he was anyhow, and got a whole new appreciation for Iggy's ability to look right at you when he can't see you.

I shook my head and fought off a smile: Sometimes that boy could be so… irksome.

I saw Fang's form shimmer for a moment; and then I could see him again, finally. I walked to where the ground started to get mushy, and breathed in. This was not something I normally did, because normally, I would have to worry about when my next shower would be so I could wash this all off.

"Keep your hand out of the mud," Fang said before dramatically plugging his nose and taking a step forward.

"Ahh… why?" I asked. I would much rather keep my face out of the mud than my hands.

"Want it to get infected?" he said. Comprehension dawned on me.

I nodded, "Right."

I stepped forward too, and water oozed up around my shoes, and the shoe prints that I had left. Mud seeped up around my shoes, and I took one big leap forward, hoping to end up at least up to my knees in mud.

Several minutes later, my whole body from the neck down- minus my hand- was coated with a thick layer of smelly mud.

I bent my knees, and leaned back, so the back of my head was in the mud, then using my hand I rubbed the mud through my hair. When I was done, I straightened up, and looked at my hand.

Spreading my fingers apart, I raised my hand up to my face to put mud on it. No way in this world, or the next, that I was sticking my face into that muck. I grabbed some mud in my hands, and smeared it across my face.

And I'm not gonna lie, I grimaced.

"Need help?" Fang asked me.

"Nope, I got it," I replied.

He pursed his lips and walked over to me. He grabbed a big glop of mud, and reached for my face.

"I said I got it!" I said backing away. If I gave him the opportunity to throw mud in my face, he would definitely abuse the opportunity.

"You can see your finger prints," he said still approaching me.

I scowled. He was right; it wouldn't look natural if I did it. I sighed and stopped backing up. He tilted his head to the side, in a way that said 'thanks'. Turning up my jaw and looking away from him, I let him smear mud all over my face.

After a few seconds of not feeling any more mud get smeared on me, I turned to find him. He was staring right at him.

"What? Is there something on my face?" I asked sarcastically.

"Nothin' that doesn't make it look even funnier," he muttered. I bent over and grabbed a big clop of mud.

"Your turn," I said and chucked it at his chest. He gaped blankly at me for a moment before he snapped into action.

The clop hit me right in the leg. Within minutes we were both thoroughly covered in mud so thick there was no way the paint would be visible.

Just as I chucked a big clump of muck at him, I called a truce. He laughed deviously as he shook his head.

"Seriously, we have to get back," I said as I dodged a big hunk of mud held together by some grass. He chucked another, "or everyone will wonder where w-" I spat out some mud from my mouth and started coughing.

"Pwe, Phe, ppph! Fang!" I shouted as I spit out some little chunks, "That was my mouth!"

He chuckled. I ran at him (as fast as you can when you're in mud up to your calves) and shoved him over. I stood over him and shoved mud into his face, making sure to get some in his mouth too.

"Taste good?" I asked him. He turned his face to the side, and rolled over, in an attempt to stand up, and avoid the many clumps of flying dirt.

"Ah, ah, ah," I said. I bent over and grabbed his wrists trying to hold him in place. I put my knees on his chest to hold him in place.

"Truce?" I asked as I raised a fist full of mud.

With a grunt he pulled his hands free and shoved me to the side, and began hurtled mud at me. I scrambled up, only for him to pull me back down.

"Truce," he said.

"How about we just go?" I asked, careful not to say truce so I could still have a small chance to splat some mud on him.

He shook his head. "Say it," he said.

"Sure," I muttered. He stood up, and offered me his hand. I pulled my legs out of the mud, and reached out for his hand with my injured but still clean hand. With the other, I grabbed a plod of mud, and threw it at him. Before it even hit him, I was up and running. I made it out of the swamp and looked over my shoulder to see how far I was ahead of him.

When I didn't see him, my heart sunk. He had used his invisibility so he could sneak up on me. I turned back around, and sprinted as fast as I could forward, running in a zigzag pathway so he couldn't throw it at me. I swerved in and out of the trees, and made it just out of the forest and onto the road when I was hit with the mud.

"Do I win yet?" Fang asked from somewhere a bit further up the road.

"When you can beat me back to the house, you win," I said. I grinned at him over my shoulder. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. Then he took off.

He has longer legs and is about 8 inches taller, but I can still beat him any day. We hadn't cut slits in our shirts for two reasons: first off, if something happened we were not leaving my mom there at the paintball field; and secondly, we didn't want them to be noticed by anyone if we got shot the wrong way and it pulled our shirt over so you could notice the slits. Thus, the reason we were running.

I focused on going as fast as my legs could move, and hoped to whatever deity controlling this was messed up world that my super speed was effective on the ground as well as in the air.

I felt myself speed up, and up, and up until I was sure that my legs couldn't go any faster. The trees were whipping past me so fast that I couldn't even tell exactly how far I had gone. I slowed down to my normal running pace, and saw that I was nearly at the house.

I looked behind me, and couldn't see Fang anywhere. I took a deep breath, and slowed to a walk, noticing how my legs felt like they were made of lead, rather than light, hollow bird bones. I stopped at the front porch and decided to wait for him to show up so I could make some smart-aleck comment.

Just as I sat down, Fang walked out of the woods right in front of the porch. "Finally decided to show up?"

Fang's shirt was off, and wadded in a ball, thrown over his shoulder, and his wings were stretched out behind him.

"I got here before you," I said stubbornly, refusing to look at how toned his midsection was.

"Maybe if you had run a bit faster, and not walked," he replied cockily.

"So what, you flew?" I asked, wondering why the heck he was torturing me with his shirt off.

He nodded.

"Well then you cheated, because I can't fly," I said.

"And here I thought you were 2% bird," he said, smirking.

I frowned. "I meant, I can't just whip my shirt off and spread my wings like you can."

"And why not?" he asked.

"Because!" I exclaimed, exasperated.

"Because is not an answer."

I sighed, shook my head, and walked towards the door. When I opened it, everyone was lounging around on the couches.

They looked at me, and Gazzy snorted. "What happened to you? Get in a fight with a swamp… and lose?" he chortled.

I gave him my best 'not amused' face and he stopped laughing immediately.

"We were looking for a place, and there was a giant sinkhole," I lied sounding smooth as ever. "So I'm getting in the shower to get this nasty mud off."

I walked down the hall without waiting for anyone to say anything and grabbed a towel from the hallway closet.

I knocked on the bathroom door, and got no reply, so I opened the door and stepped inside. Closing the door, and locking it, I closed the lid of the toilet and set my towel on it.

I pulled my shirt over my head, and pulled my shorts down. I turned to turn on the water, and out of the corner of my eyes I noticed my form in the mirror.

There were large purple and red welts welling up all over my body. The most noticeable were the welt the size of a tennis ball right on my chest, and the welt on my arm that was just smaller than the one on my chest, but darker in color.

I sighed. Even mud wouldn't cover those up. Once I thought about it I remembered that Fang had some big red marks on various parts of his chest too, where he had gotten hit by paintballs. I hope he has enough sense to cover them up, so nobody notices them, because that couldn't be passed off as mud…

A/N hi guys. I am back, updating again. Sorry it took so long, even if it is summer. I was on a few vacations, and I got some really bad news.

I'm not going to say the bad news, because it isn't something I want to post on the interenet, nor talk about. But, it made writing hard, because it really hit me deep down.

Then, when I could write properly again, I finished the chapter, sent it to my editors (Thanks Miz636 and Miromyth!) who usually edit my stuff very quickly.

Three days later I still hadent gotten it back yet, so I checked my outbox to see if they had gotten it yet. It said I never sent it, because there were problems. So I sent it, and then the next day Miz returned it, but I was already gone for my 4 day vacation at the Sand Dunes. So I got back late last night, went to sleep, went to drivers ed, got home… and now I'm updating.

So, basically, I am sorry for not updating sooner, but here is the next chapter, and I hope you enjoy it.


	30. Hiding Ambush Plans

**A/N This story is now 538 pages typed, in ComicSans MS 11 point font, if i were to have it made into a book. (this is including the first 2 pages of the next chapter, b/c those are already written)**

Hiding Ambush Plans

Max's pov

A week later Fang and I were practically experts on how to shoot a gun while running for your life. We could shoot both a rifle and a handgun, although both of us preferred a rifle.

And, bonus! Rifles don't have to be registered, and are often cheaper than a handgun with greater firepower. So, my mom was going to cash her check on Tuesday, and get cash. We were going to take the cash, buy a shotgun with it, and then buy her groceries for the week (with the handy-dandy Max Ride card), and take some money off our card from an ATM to pay the bills, then send her more money from a different ATM in a few days, so it won't look suspicious and she wont be out a few thousand dollars.

That way, the rifle wouldn't be tracked to us and my mom wouldn't be out on money that she really couldn't go without. She wasn't rich, but she wasn't in dire need of money. She was able to put a little money away each paycheck, but even though she offered, we were going to buy the gun this way.

As soon as we bought the gun we were going to bring it back here; and my mom was going to saw off the barrel so it would be easier to carry. It also made it considerably more powerful. As soon as she did that, we were taking off to go and stage the first ambush –unless you counted when we had just enough warning that they were coming to blow them all up. Some would call that an ambush, but I just call it bad timing for them, great timing for us.

Fang and I had gone to the shooting range every day last week, and we had gone paintballing with frozen paintballs twice. We had also scoped out a place where my mom and Ella could hide at a moments notice if they had too.

Along a small river in the woods a half mile from their house there was a part where the bushed grew thicker for a few hundred yards. I had taken a shovel and dug a semi- circular room that was big enough to stretch out (while lying down) and sit up. Then I laid a tarp down so it would stay semi dry. I put in two 24 cases of water; three buckets of the water from the creek; my Mother's only small caliber pistol; a first-aid kit for any injury either of them may sustain, and some canned fruit, along with other food that doesn't need to be heated up to taste edible.

The plan was that if I called them and told them to hide; they would drive to the road closest to there, park the car, get out and head for the river. Once they got there, they were to walk in the water, touching nothing, to the spot I had prepared. Once they were inside, they were supposed to take the buckets of river water and dump them on the footprints they left going from the creek to the bushes. That may not be necessary if it had rained recently, and then they were supposed to call me, let the phone ring once, then call again and let it ring twice if they were okay. If they were feeling unsafe, as in they were followed to closely for their comfort, then they were supposed to call until it went to voicemail. This way, they wouldn't have to speak so they wouldn't be heard, as they could just cover the earpiece and muffle the sound so it was inaudible (I had Iggy try to hear it with my mom's hand covering it because his hearing is better than the erasers).

Also in the dug out hole were blankets so they were prepared to spend the night if necessary. We hoped it wouldn't get to that.

The plan for the first ambush was to go to a construction site, where they were building a Wal-Mart or some other superstore but no building was actually built yet. Iggy and Gazzy would place remote activated bombs all around the undeveloped site, and we would draw attention to ourselves. We were, after all, still wanted criminals. We had, up until this point, not been identified as the possible killers of store owner Harold Garpowaski by anyone other than on the TV. Our faces were out of circulation in the Newspapers, but our faces were not forgotten in police stations.

We were going to go to a police station, walk up to the desk, and when asked what we were doing there, state that we are there to report a murder. As soon as he looks at us, if he hasn't already recognized us, Angel will gently put into his mind to look closely at us. Then we bolt. He contacts the 'FBI' (aka Itex) and they know where we are. Itex has connections to all the branches of the government, which is one way that they have been able to track us quickly, when we think we have made it nearly impossible. They will then track us quickly, because we won't make it hard.

If everything goes as planned, the bombs will kill all the erasers but two, and those who do survive will be killed quickly by some other means, yet undetermined. Only two erasers will be allowed to survive, and they will report back to Itex. Itex will hear about how it was a trap, and next time we are 'spotted' they will send more. We will crush them also, until Itex is emptied of trained erasers, or the erasers are too afraid to come after us, whichever comes first.

We sound like heartless killers, but in reality, we just don't want to have to look over our shoulders all the time. We want to be able to live, really live. First I will have to save the world, and as to how in the heck I am supposed to do that, I don't quite know yet.

Tomorrow, we were getting the gun, and as far as the kids knew, setting up the final touches on the hiding spot, so we could show them after (while my mom sawed off the rifle barrel). Then we were off.

The kids were all going to shower tonight, as we were leaving somewhat early tomorrow. Iggy was showering tomorrow, then him and Nudge were going shopping for stuff we would need over the next few weeks –bomb supplies, deodorants (necessity with as hot as it is around here, and we didn't want to be sniffed out) and other essential things.

I told Iggy and the kids everything that they needed to think we were doing tomorrow, and then told them I was going to sit up on the roof. I wasn't there for five minutes when Fang flew up and landed gracefully next to me.

"What's on your mind?" he asked, knowing before I did that something was bothering me. I opened my mouth and took a deep breath to reply, before I closed it again, not quite sure what really was bothering me.

He nodded, recognizing that I wasn't quite sure yet. We sat in silence for a few minutes when suddenly it hit me.

"Doesn't this make us just as bad as them?" I asked Fang, knowing he would think I was crazy, but still fearing that maybe it did.

He creased his eyebrows together, asking me without words what made us as bad as whom.

"Killing all these erasers like that. Won't that make us just as bad as them?" I asked, feeling the stupid need to be reassured.

He shook his head. "I thought about that. But they have a choice to leave us alone, we have no choice," he said, then draped his hand around my waist and pulled me a bit closer.

"In a few days, right now, we will be getting ready to kill hundreds of living beings," I said with regret in my voice. I was forcing myself not to lose where my mind was going with this because he was touching me. I knew that was what he wanted, but I wasn't going to let him get his wish. I needed to focus.

"In a week, we will be one step closer to being free," he said.

"Yes, but first we have to," I began to argue.

"Let's just fly, k?" he cut me off. I was about to tell him off when I realized that I hadn't flown in way too long, at least three days. Rolling my shoulders to loosen my wings, I stretched them out, and jumped off the roof. He followed, seconds after me. In the moonlight, I couldn't make out his face, just the outline of his form.

We flew higher and higher, until it began to get cold. I stopped moving, flapping my wings only enough to hover where I was. He swooped around me, flying circles around me barely even moving his beautiful black wings, yet still seemingly dancing circles around me.

"Show off!" I said, not bothering to contain my humor, or my slight jealously at his grace.

"Want me to teach you?" he asked, looking somewhat guarded. I thought about it for a second. How many times had I said that I would have loved to be able to fly as gracefully as Fang can? More than I can count on my hands, and that is too many.

I shook my head at what I was about to do. "If I fall and die, I will be haunting _you_," I said.

He smirked and shook his head slightly. We both knew he would never let me fall, so he didn't bother agreeing.

He pointed to where his wings connected to his back. "Right here is where you move your wings. It's good for landing and taking off, but otherwise they make you clumsy," he said. "Try moving the very tips of your wings."

I tried to concentrate on the feel of my blood pumping in my wings, and focused on the part of my wings farthest from my body that I could still feel. Fang laughed slightly at my scrunched up face.

"I'm concentrating!" I said, affronted at his laughing at my best attempt. His face cleared instantly.

"Proceed," he announced, sounding like a businessman in a starchy suit. A few minutes later I felt a change in how I flew.

"Okay, what now?" I asked, feeling ready to move on.

"That's it."

"No, seriously, I think I got this down," I declared.

"That's it. Just fly with your wingtips unless you are trying to go far, then fly with your back," he said. I stared blankly at him. There was no way it was that simple.

"You're kidding?"

He shook his head. "Once you get good, you can turn like that, and that is where grace comes in," he responded. I narrowed my eyes at him and gave him my best 'why didn't you tell me this sooner' look.

He shrugged. "You know you can be a real jerk sometimes, right? You couldn't have told me that sooner; it just may have killed you!" I exclaimed, feigning anger.

He sighed, and then folded his wings in before he kicked out his legs, causing him to do a back flip. Then, just to show off a little more, he acted like he was lying down on his back, and very slowly flapped his wings; giving the impression he was sleeping.

I crossed my arms, trying my best to look un-amused. You know, this was so like Fang, to sit here and show off, mercilessly torturing me, because he knew how much I wanted to be that elegant. I folded my wings in and dropped down too, so I was level with Fang, and thought about trying his unique back flip, but decided against it. If I messed that up, how humiliating would that be? So I stuck with my average dive.

In seconds I was down low enough to see in between the tree leaves. I saw a large bolder up ahead, with a small opening in the trees above it, so I landed on it. I sat down in the fetal position on it. Then I started counting.

Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, Fang will show up by the time I get to one. Eight, seven, six, only five more seconds, three, two, and there it is. My neck hairs started prickled.

"There you go again," I muttered.

"What, breathing in the fresh air?" he took a deep breath. I didn't respond. He sat next to me, and looked up at the sky. He frowned. "Too cloudy to see anything," he muttered.

"Ah well," I replied, looking up the same way as if I was staring at a sky full of stars.

"Do you think it's wrong to not tell Iggy about the gun? And the kids, they kind of deserve to know," I asked. I felt terrible hiding something from them, but also knowing that the gun was a last resort, as in if they didn't know it was there, they would fight harder thinking that they had no choice.

He shook his head. I waited a few seconds for him to elaborate, and he finally seemed to realize what I wanted. "If we tell Iggy, he will feel bad about not being able to use it. And we don't want the kids to pull it out- thinking they can use it- and hurt someone," he said.

"They aren't that stupid!" I said, surprised that he thought the kids were that foolish.

"If we are fighting, and neither me nor you can get to it, can you honestly say that you don't think they would go for it to help us?" he asked, shaking his head slightly, telling me that he didn't think them to be idiotic at all.

"We might need them too, though," I said, and we both knew that he was right. I was only arguing for the sake of argument. Again, we were silent. For several minutes neither of us said anything and when I looked over at him, I saw nothing.

I felt breathing on the back of my neck, and turned to see only empty space. Then I felt more breath on the back of my neck, now facing the opposite way. Again, I saw nothing. I could just picture him smirking, the little jerk.

"Sure, its cool that you can just fade into the background, but really it's just annoying when I'm trying to talk to you," I put as much spite into my tone as I could without being overly cranky.

"Say it anyway," he whispered in my ear, sending trembles down my spine, while effectively telling me exactly what I wanted to know. Where he was. I reached over to where it sounded like he was, and pushed hard as soon as my fingers came in contact with something solid.

I felt him give, and begin to fall backwards. Suddenly his outline became visible, and within a millisecond he was fully detectable against the dark backdrop of the nighttime woods. He grabbed my wrists just as he was about to slip off the edge of the tapered rock.

Not a full two seconds later we both smacked into the ground below, me on top of him. I felt his grip on my wrists tighten minutely and realized that he probably just _killed_ his wings. In the short fall, there wasn't time to pull them out so I wouldn't fall, which is probably why he didn't either. But he fell on them, and crunched them into his back… which I'm guessing didn't feel all too great.

He let go of my wrists, kinked his neck to the side, and pushed it until it cracked on each side. "Now you're going down," he said, looking up at me and grinning.

"Hey, hey, hey, you snuck up on me, it scared me, and I acted on instinct," I defended, lying through my teeth, knowing he would see right through it.

He bucked his hips and rolled his shoulder at the same time, causing me to roll off him, and onto my side. He wrapped his legs around mine, and rotated a little more, enough to put him on top of me.

"You knew I was there," he said triumphantly.

I tightened my legs, pulling his joints to the point of slight pain and grabbed his arms, pushing him slightly off balance before I rocked my body to the opposite side, throwing the both of us off balance. In seconds, I had re-gained my 'footing' and was on top.

"And you know I hate when you breathe down my neck," I said fiercely.

"That's why I do it," he leered before he let go of my shoulders and ripped my hands off of his shoulders before flipping our positions again.

"So you earned that," I argued, while pushing with all my might, trying to get his hands off of me, so I could flip us again.

He slackened his grip on my shoulders, and bent his arms, smiling slightly. "Then you deserve this," he murmured, before he pressed his lips to mine. I felt myself slowly forgetting where I was, and why I was there. I was with Fang, and that was all that mattered.

Without noticing it, my eyes drifted shut. I felt my whole body relax, and my arms moved from his elbows to wrapping around his back, pulling him closer.

The corners of his mouth tugged up, and he pulled back. He was smiling, as was I. "Well this is a little mushy for me…" I joked, noticing how we were staring at each other, smiling.

His smile turned to a grin, and he pulled back again, getting off me, so I wasn't pinned anymore.

"I wonder how long it will take to get used to you not running away," he mused. Hurt flashed through me; did he seriously just say that? Way to kill the moment."Oh, no I didn't mean it like that!" he said forcefully.

I looked at him silently asking him how the heck he meant it then, and he sighed, shrugging. He looked up at me again, and his eyes told me he was sorry.

I shook my head. "Its fine." Then I stood up, brushing the dirt off my pants and hands, and extended a hand to him, offering to help him up. He grinned and yanked my arm as hard as he could, trying to pull me down. When I hardly budged, he grunted and pulled himself up.

"Why do you always have to know when I'm out to get you?" he asked.

I grinned. "I have a voice in my head. I think the world is out to get me. I'm always ready."

A brief smile graced his face.

"So unless you want to explain to my mother that you duped me into kissing you, we had better get back," I joked.

He looked baffled, being dramatic. "I duped you into nothing!"

I grinned. "Keep telling yourself that," before I snapped out my wings and took a running start. Seconds later he was in the air next to me, ebony wings against an ebony sky.

When I landed on the roof, I turned to him. "I guess we had better get to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day," I muttered, still a bit doubtful that what we were going to do was the right thing.

Tomorrow begins a series of ambushes that will, if all goes well, destroy Itex once and for all. Let's hope all does go well.

**A/N Hola all . here is another chpater for you! This next part of the story is going to fucus more on Itex, rather than them planning to get itex. Now, the plans go in action. **

**Secondly I am a bit dissappointed with some people right now. I have 141people who recieve alerts every time i post a new chapter, and i get an average of 600 hits on the first day alone of posting. Yet, i so far only have 15 reviews for this chapter. **

**So i am going to do what i hate when other authors do. A limit. I am not posting (weather i have the chapter done or not) until i get at least 25 reviews for this chapter. When a minimum of 300 people look at this chpater alone in one day, i say 25 is a reasonable number. So, do it or dont, i am not posting until i get 25 for this chapter. If i dont... well we will get to that if it comes. **

**So, please review for both your sake, and my mental healths sake. And to those who do review every time, Miz636, morning-hues, someoneyoudon'tknowprobably, faxgirl, leanah Song, ShadowAmunet, djpc450, dallascowboysncountrymusicfan, fandandmaxluh-ver4ever, and my many annoynomus reviewers who i am not going to name b/c i dont know if you go by the same name every time, thank you very much. If you have reviewed for the last five chapters, every one, and i missed you, then tell me and i will fix it, and im sorry.**

**And i dont mean to sound bitchy, like i know this does, but keep in mind that what i said i meant as a fact, not as a bitch fit. ok? thanks, if you did. and really, have a nice day.**

**25 guys, just 25.**


	31. The Calm Before the Storm

Calm before the storm

Max's pov

Saying goodbye had been hard, as usual. Although Ella, nor my mom cried, I could tell they wanted. They were worried, and I hoped with everything I was worth that their apprehension was based on silly fears.

We had passed through New Mexico North into Colorado and then up through the Northeastern corner of Colorado into Wyoming.

Nebraska was a large chunk of land that, for the most part, had very little people living in it and only one major highway. The perfect place for what we had in mind.

We had stopped twice on our way here and neither time, thankfully, were we recognized. That however, had to change.

We decided to camp out in the woods for tonight because we figured that we had gotten soft in a week and a half of no fighting, comfortable beds and consistently full bellies. So we were going to switch it up- other than the full bellies, those were a necessity.

My pack, as well as Fang and Nudges, had food in it that could either be cooked over the fire or eaten right from the can. Tonight, pre cut potatoes beef stew meat, to be wrapped in tin-foil and cooked over a fire. My mom went a bit over the top making sure we had enough food for three days considering we normally went garbage picking or something along those lines.

Iggy and Gazzy each had a backpack containing the stuff we would need to make tomorrows operation run smoothly, along with the stuff for starting the fire.

Angel's pack had everything else, the first aid supplies, tooth brushes and all that happy stuff, and Total. Normally I wouldn't have let Angel carry Total the whole distance, but she insisted that she could, saying that he was her dog (while he insisted that she was his human) so she would do it. If he got too heavy, she would pass him off to me. But, she had made it the whole way, even though I saw that she was dog tired, when we landed for the last time. Despite how tired she must have been, my baby toughed it out.

So, Gazzy was making the fire while Iggy was wrapping the massive amounts of food that was to be our dinner in tin-foil while Fang and Nudge went to scope out the nearest town. Once they found it, they were coming right back and Angel and I were going to go back to it and find out where the closest building site was. This way, everyone had a purpose, so no one could complain.

"Why is it that the oh-so-helpful Doctor Martinez forgot to pack silverware for me? Does she think me not capable of eating like the sophisticated animal that I am?" Total complained.

"But you don't have thumbs," Angel supplied with care in her voice that I would have been entirely unable to lace with my tone.

"That is beside the point. Years ago, before man was intelligent enough to speak, they relied on dogs, or more accurately wolves, to bring there food back to them. Now, the descended of those noble creatures doesn't even get a fork and knife to eat with. Has humanity forgotten," Total continued talking bitterly, but I tuned it out. At least for now he was his normal self. Not mopey because he was missing Akiela. That however would change, they knew. That's not to say that I didn't hope that he wouldn't at least hold out of his resentment for a few days, until this whole first ambush arrangement was over.

The sky was not yet dark enough to have a fire and not be seen, so Gazzy busied himself with setting up the wood in the Indian-tent formation so that when it was dark enough, all that would have to be done would be to light the piece of paper they had placed in the middle of the Indian-tent (I had forbidden them to use any of there extra explosive powders, because they tended to make a rather conspicuous boom).

Within an hour of Fang and Nudge leaving, they returned telling me of a small store in the middle of town where there was a man sitting outside on the hood of his car smoking a cigarette in a construction uniform. Not wanting to lose the chance, Nudge walked up to him and told him she wanted to be a construction. Fang said the man was very standoffish, but eventually told them that he had come from and construction site about 9 miles west of where they were. Since it was Fourth of July weekend, and a Friday, no one would be working the next day.

Nudge went and sat by Iggy and started asking how he planned to put the bombs so that every area would be affected. Once they were talking, there was no stopping them. I smiled at how well we all knew each other, knowing that there was no one in the whole universe who loved each other as much as the flock loves each other.

Eww. I was turning into a mushy-gushy softie. Angel looked up at me and smiled, but didn't say anything.

"Hey Ange, can you come here for a second?"

She got up and walked over to me, I could feel her picking through my mind trying to figure out what was up. As soon as she sat down, I let her see

"Oh," she muttered, and then scrunched up her face, deep in thought. "I can try."

"That's all I want, Hun," I replied.

The fewer people around when we met up with the erasers, the better. Angel was going to convince the Mayer to have a parade that will last about 6 hours. That will give us plenty of time to get it over with before people start showing up to their homes. Also, it would be noisy, and a smaller number people would hear the commotion we were sure to cause, and hopefully; the crowd would be looking in the opposite direction, so as not to see the enormous mushroom cloud that the bombs would set off.

I don't know if I would be able to live with myself if innocent people were killed during this ambush because of our negligence. I wouldn't let that happen, not on my watch. This reminds me,

"I'll take first watch," I said knowing that Iggy and Fang would dole out the next too. "Hey Nudge, want to stay up on watch with me?"

Her face brightened so much that I was sure even Iggy would be able to see it. "Oh, but I don't know. Are you sure that I wouldn't bother you? I would pay attention the whole time, and I would help you, and I promise that I won't talk the whole time. Do you really think I could?" she rambled sounding excited.

I nodded. She squealed with excitement. Fang caught my eye, silently asking what I was doing. Using only my eyes, I looked off to the right. Only Fang would notice, and that was what I was hoping for.

He immediately looked over, checking for danger. When he saw none, he understood. Standing up, he walked to the edge of the woods.

"Gonna go check for water this way," he said quietly before walking off.

"Hold up, two seconds," I said walking over to Angels backpack and taking out the seven empty canteens. I grabbed three and chucked them to Fang. I took the other four for myself.

"I'll come with," I looked around; making sure everything was under control before I left. "Hey Ig, whenever you want you can start dinner, its dark."

"Sure," he replied as I turned to follow Fang.

Once we were far enough away I saw Fang look at me questioningly from the corner of my eyes.

I answered his unasked question. "Yes, I think Nudge is old enough to do watch."

He nodded his consent, but still looked slightly unconvinced. "Do you think she can focus?"

I pursed my lips. "I'm not sure. That's why she is staying up with me tonight, to see if she can," I paused, not quite knowing how to word it. "If she can pay attention to the world surrounding her for two or three uninterrupted hours, if she can then we will try second watch. We all know that's the hard one," I continued.

Second watch is harder than the rest because you get to sleep for three hours, then get up for three hours, then go back to sleep. You don't get a chance to get that really restful, dreamless sleep. It's always fretful, so none of us are allowed to take it more than one day in a row.

He nodded his consent. Fang and I continued walking in the direction that we originally headed in, looking for water. Fang was looking down at the ground, not at the sky when he suddenly changed course, heading a little to our right.

"Going somewhere?" I asked, wondering why he suddenly changed course, or if he had even noticed that he had.

He pointed at the ground, and as soon as he pointed them out I realized how incredibly stupid I had been. Just walking off looking for water, with no clue if there was even any around here, that had been pretty stupid. A set of what looked like deer tracks was going off the same direction as Fang.

Several minutes later I saw some more tracks.

Eventually, we reached a small pond. Now, normally I don't take water from places that are stagnant. I know, it's stupid; if the water is infected then it is whether it is moving or not, but I just can't shake the habit. But this water seemed to be safe, as there were no animal carcasses around and it was apparent that many animals had drunk from it. So I dipped my finger in the water and let a drop fall on my tongue. It tasted normal, so I scooped up a mouthful. After waiting a few minutes and not keeling over I filled the canteens.

I turned around to see Fang smirking slightly at me. "What?" I asked, accusing.

"You have eaten a rat that we found dead, picked through a dumpster for food several times, and now you are testing your water?" he mocked callously. I gave him my best 'not amused' face, and chucked four of the large water bottles at him. He caught all of them, and we began our walk back.

"So tomorrow we set the bombs up? Then turn ourselves in, sorta, then, what? Just wait?" I asked, mostly directing the question at myself. Fang surprised me by answering.

"Sure. Iggy has third watch, when the sun starts rising, he can wake us all up to go," I nodded my response. I was just beginning to see the lights of the fire and I couldn't yet hear voices.

That last fact worried me slightly, because if they weren't there, then there would be nothing to hear. But it was also good, because it meant that they had actually done what they were supposed to. Keep their voices down. Either way, I picked up my pace.

When we got in the little man-made clearing, I found the reason the flock was nearly silent. All but Total, who was above such animalistic tendencies, was stuffing their faces.

"_We saved you two some. Its right over there," _Angel gently put into my head. Her eyes flicked over to two lumps of tin foil and I walked over two them. Throwing one to Fang, I unwrapped mine.

I nodded my thanks to Angel before turning my attention to Iggy. "This is amazing," the smell wafting up to my nose was… one of the best scents I had ever smelled before, other than my mothers chocolate chips cookies, that is. "Whatever you did to this, do it forever."

I saw him smirk and he took a slight break between bites to bow. I grinned as I dug in. Just as I expected, it was one of the best meals we had ever had on the run and definitely the best that had been made with no stove. When I finished eating, licking the tin foil and my fingers, I cleared my throat.

"Here's the plan. Whoever has third watch wakes us all up as soon as they see hints of the sun. We go to the construction place, rig it, then go to the police station. Then wait. Got it?" I ordered while clarifying that they understood at the same time. It takes talent; you should try it some time.

Everyone nodded. A minute or so later Gazzy grabbed the sheet that we were laying down to sleep on. We wouldn't need a blanket, it was too hot to use it anyway, plus they were heavy. We were all just going to sleep on the sheet to keep the sticks from poking us, and whoever was on watch was going to make sure the fire didn't die out. Taking the hint, everyone tossed their garbage into the fire and curled up on our bed. Iggy and Fang each took an edge, so when it was their turn for watch they wouldn't wake anyone up when they got up.

I stuck my fist out, and after we stacked, I muttered 'G'night' and caught Nudges attention.

I gestured for Nudge to come over to me, and when she popped a squat I began my lecture. "You have to stay awake the whole time, and alert. You can't let your mind drift at all; you have to be paying attention to every little noise surrounding us. Some noises belong, some don't. You have to pick out the ones that don't and make sure that it isn't anything important. Think you can do it?" I asked, knowing what her answer would be.

For once, all she did was nod her head.

I climbed up into a tree and closed my eyes, listening to my surroundings. After a few minutes, the flock stopped moving. Every few minutes I opened my eyes to see Nudge sitting exactly as she had been when I got up into the tree.

I smiled. Nudge really wanted to do watch with us, it made her one of the older ones.

Once, to test her I grabbed a twig that had fallen into where the branch meets the tree and threw it as hard as I could. It hit with a nearly inaudible thump, but in this dead silence, it was like a lion roaring.

Nudge's eyes flew open and she jumped up, creeping in near silence to where the stick had landed. When she noticed that I hadn't followed her example, she looked back to me. I smiled, nodding, encouraging her to continue as she was. She reached the edge of our rather small clearing and picked through the weeds looking for something.

Several minutes later she came back into my line of sight. When she caught my eye she mouthed 'false alarm.' I nodded, not telling her that I had just been testing her. She passed.

Another time, I jumped from the tree and got some wood, mostly just big sticks, and dumped it into the fire. Nudge was alert and ready again, and she jumped up ready to fight again.

Finally, I got out of the tree and stretched. "Iggy's next," I broke the silence. Nudges took a deep breath and opened her mouth. She started to say something, then stopped herself.

"Tell you in the morning," she muttered. I nodded my approval. She had done better than I thought she would. It isn't that I didn't think her capable; I just didn't think she would be able to focus on one thing for that long. Focusing on something that isn't there is a difficult thing to do. When you are focusing on sounds that don't belong, as in, aren't their, it is hard not to lose focus.

I told Nudge to wake up Iggy who was still sleeping and she prodded him slightly. His eyes instantly opened and he nodded, knowing it was his watch. Normally everything wasn't quite this silent, but because it was Nudge's first watch, I didn't want to give her the idea that it was ok to talk between shifts, even if we all did say a few words.

Once he had stood up and Nudge replaced him, I noticed a problem. Everyone had lain down up against each other, knowing that when one came to lie down, another would get up. But we all forgot to take into account that there'd be, for one shift, two watchers.

I looked around and noticed that the most space on the sheet was right next to Fang. I have slept in worse places then woods, and been more uncomfortable then having a few sticks poke me in odd places, but when I can have comfort, I try to. So I walked over and laid down several inches away from him, with half of my body on the sheet and half on the coarse forest ground.

I laid there for a moment, stock still, and when it appeared that no one had woken up by mine and Nudge's moving I moved my arm slightly to form a pillow.

I heard an almost silent groan coming from Fang. "Oh give it up," he whispered in my ear. I felt his wiry arm wrap around my waist and he pulled me closer, assuring that I was entirely on the sheet, before dropping his arm back to his side.

I exhaled quickly, trying to convince myself that it was a good thing he wasn't holding my waist anymore. I sighed, barely loud enough for me to hear, and closed my eyes.

After several seconds I slowly lifted my arm up so it would be under my head, a crude pillow. I didn't bother counting sheep to make myself fall asleep, I just thought about flying, flying far out over the ocean. The smoothness of the blue waters and the long expanses of nothing but water, it was enough to put anyone's mind at ease. I was slumbering within minutes.

Fang's pov

As soon as I felt it, that seemingly innocent poke, my eyes opened and my body tensed. The first thing I noticed was that I was pushed up against something and that my arm was slightly numb. I ripped my arms out from under whatever they were under, wildly looking around.

Iggy was looking at me blankly. I groaned. Iggy was only waking me up for my watch. I wiped the sleep from my eyes and looked around from my position on the ground. It was still dark, but by the light of flickering flames I was able to make out shapes.

Next to me, Max's arm was groping around, and when she apparently didn't find what she was looking for, she just moved it under her head, cushioning her head. It was then that I noticed that she was what I had been pressed up against when I first woke up. I looked down at my previously numb arm, and noticed imprints. A ponytail, it appeared, along with some other indistinct lines. I fought off a smile, realizing that Max had been using my arm as a pillow and that was missing it, having to use her own arm.

I rolled onto my back and reached my arm out, "Ig, can you pull me up?" I asked quietly. His hand barely missed my own on the first grab, and his aim was sound on the second.

He pulled me up, while simultaneously asking if there was room for him to take my spot. I looked down, at the sheet, and saw that there was barley enough room for someone Angel's size to lie down without having to sandwich someone else.

My contemplative silence was enough. "Alright, G'night; I'm just going to go take that tree up for a bed," he whispered, turning around.

I rolled my eyes. "Hold it," I squatted down and reached my arms under Max's legs and back, gently scooting her over so Iggy would have room to lie next to her. I moved her so far over that she was nearly touching Angel, but not quite. "It's clear now," I mumbled, knowing that he would understand me.

He nodded, and got on his hands and knees, finding out where exactly he could lay down. I turned my back, closing my eyes tightly and hoping with all that I was worth that Max wouldn't cuddle up next to him like she did with me. Even if she did it for warmth, it would still bother me; because I am Fang, and Fang lets stupid things bother him.

I sat next to the fire and closed my mind to all thought, concentrating on nothing but the sounds of the wood. My mind was lulled into the sounds of natural life, and soon enough, I heard the first signs of morning. The frogs were croaking.

I opened my eyes to darkness. Not the utter darkness of midnight, but the non absolute darkness of the sun fighting its way into the sky.

I went around and gave everyone a gentle shake. Neither Nudge nor Gazzy woke up, so once the others were clear of the sheet, I picked up one side and lifted it, causing Nudge to roll into Gazzy, and Gazzy to roll off the sheet. Now they were up.

I avoided Max's eyes, remembering how I had woken up. Other than the first unpleasant feeling of not knowing what had woken me or where I was, I relished in the feeling of waking up to her wrapped in my arms. For some reason I felt like if she knew that, she may not be happy with me.

Few words were spoken, for we had all gotten little sleep. Gazzy and Angel, who had gotten the most, had gotten less than 6 hours, and the rest of us had gotten under four. When we were ambushed in the middle of the night, four hours was plenty because of the adrenaline. But now, even though we would be fighting four our lives in a matter of hours, we had no adrenaline pumping through our veins.

We were tired, yes, but we had work to do. Today began the long process of flushing out Itex of all hell hounds or and any other fiend that was out to kill or capture my flock.

Max spoke my very thoughts, "come one guys. Today is going to be a long one whether we get going now or later, so we may as well get our butts out there! Lets go, chop to it!" she encouraged.

She had that right. Even if all went as planned, which it rarely does, today would be a long one.

**A/N Alright guys, here is chapter 30 for you. thanks for the 25 reviews, even if i did threaten you to get them, i really appreciate them. thanks you. **

**If there are typos in this hcapter, then im sorry. it hasnt been run through either of my editors, myromith or miz636. they both do wonders for my story, and both are unavaliable to do it. well, miz may or may not be out of town, and idk how long it will take her to edit it, so i am posting without editing it, and when she does i will replace it. **

**next thing, i was playing with my dog, and i hid from him in a woodpile. when i sneezed it all tumbled down. i smashed my right thumb, and my left pointer finger the worst. both of those are VERY important in typing, as you know. so, anyhow, it makes typing hard, but if i get 25 reviews then i will post ASAP. as in, im not posting until i have _25 reviews_.**

**thanks for your review, ahead of time!**

*Note, Miz636 has edited this. thank her, and do so by reading and review her story 'old and new collide'. it has a sequal, and a very origional and great plot!


	32. The Storm

The Storm

Max's pov

What normally would have been a short and relaxing flight turned into an extensively long walk. We didn't want to fly over the town when we had no idea if there would be people outside early for the parade. We certainly didn't want to get questioned by the police as to why we could fly, nor did we want the whole town trying to follow 'the kids with wings!' So we walked, like normal people would.

When we got to the vacant construction lot, Fang, Iggy, and Gazzy stayed. Nudge, Angel and I, which obviously meant Total came too, continued on towards the police station. There, we would basically make the clerk see who we are, and then, as discussed, some Itex people would show.

We were finally entering town just as dawn was breaking the sunrise. I, for one, was glad that the sun was at our backs, or else we would have been practically blinded by its rays. We walked down some side streets until at last Nudge pointed down a narrow road running between two buildings that looked as if it was never used. She was babbling, but I wasn't paying much attention. I was too busy having an internal debate on morals.

We turned and headed down the narrow street and at the end was what appeared to be the main street. I took a deep breath and walked out, knowing everyone else would follow.

The sight of everyone preparing the floats or whatever they were doing lifted a weight off my chest. At the very least, I knew Angel had succeeded in getting everyone to stay away from where we were staging the ambush. We walked until Nudge pointed to a very official looking building, while talking animatedly.

I focused on the present, listening to what she said. "Came around the corner and saw this, he thought this would be the station. I didn't think so because of how it looks like this in all the movies, so why wouldn't they try to disguise it? Don't they know that if everyone knows where they are they are targets? I mean, seriously they aren't."

"Nudge, honey, shut it," I said cutting her off affectionately. She grinned, looking abashed.

"Sorry. Just nervous," she mumbled, discomfited.

"Don't be," I said, forcing as much confidence as I could into my voice. Angel looked up at me, eyes narrowed.

"Would this be a bad time to say 'take your own advice?'" she asked. Her face was dead serous, but I knew from her expression that she was about to laugh any second.

"Yes. Being that we are less than ten feet from a police station, I don't think I could get away with anything I did," I joked back, glad that Angel was putting an effort out of calm my nerves.

"Maybe you should save that comment until we are a bit farther away so she at least has a chance of getting away," Nudge said, catching on that we were only messing around. I grinned at both of them and shook my head. Total didn't join in on the banter, as he was in my backpack, and not supposed to talk under any circumstances.

Taking a deep breath I opened the doors to the police station. A false wind created by the air conditioner rushed at us. It smelled like professional. Don't ask me what professional smells like; because I can't tell you, I just know that this smells professional.

The man at the front desk, which was straight around the corner didn't even look up at us. "The parade doesn't start until two! And no, you can't save seats!" he said, sounding flustered. "I don't know why all the sudden we have to have a parade," he muttered to himself.

"I'm not here about the parade," I said, doing my best to sound guilty and scared. My tone, and my words, made the man look up.

When he did, pushing his glasses further up this nose, he nodded apologetically. "Sorry, towns having a bit of a crisis. Decided to have a parade, but only made plans yesterday. What can I do for you today?" he asked, his responses sounding a bit like a machine. Sounding like he knew what to say, but he didn't mean a single word of it.

"Well," I began before making a point to look down at my feet, "I would like to report a crime," I finished, doing my best to sound guilty, and looking over at the bulletin with all the 'wanted' posters on it.

He nodded, "the criminal activity forms are over there," he said, pointing to a counter adjacent to his with different colored papers on it.

I panicked for a moment. We weren't supposed to fill out a form; we were supposed to tell him! In seconds, my head was cleared. "Yes sir, but this is serous. We, well I, I made a mistake sir; one that can't be taken back."

He looked up at me, squinting slightly. He seemed to be sizing me up. Good. "This isn't about vandalism, is it?" he asked, finally catching on that something was very wrong.

I took a deep breath, trying to sound guilty. "No sir, this is about," I paused, again doing my best to look guilty as well as increasing drama. "It's about murder," I whispered so quietly that I knew he wouldn't have been able to hear me. If he was half decent at reading lips, he would know what I said, otherwise, he would never know.

I looked down to Angel and nodded. She gave no sign of confirmation, other then the look of intense concentration that came over her face. His eyes clouded over, only for a second before his head snapped over towards the bulletin board.

He looked back at us, studying each of our faces, other that Total who was still in Angels backpack, and then again looking to the wanted posters. I barely gave us time to see the look of recognition come over his face before we had ran out into the streets.

As I puffed along Total began talking for the first time. "That was very poor acting on your part. You could have gone with a bit less guilt," he declared. I turned down the alley that we came from and slowed down a little.

"Nudge, Angel, get in front of me!" I ordered. I knew I could run faster than them, and I didn't want to leave them behind.

Nudge responded by passing me, and for Angel I slowed a bit more, giving her ample opportunity to pass me by.

"As soon as we get out of the thick of things we have to fly through the woods. We can't risk them following us, they have to call Itex!" I called. Now that it had come down to it, our plan was flimsy and not well thought out. Normally I just winged it, so planning and I didn't know each other well, but I should have spent a bit more time on this one.

"Stop!" Angel said suddenly. Nudge screeched to a halt, Angel and I had a bit more time. Seconds later sirens came whizzing by, right down the street we were a bout to run into. Had we not stopped they would have seen us go. "Go," Angel said just as they turned the corner.

With their being a parade today, all cops were on duty. They were all in the station when we bolted, another aspect of my thoughtlessness. Angle could keep them from coming this way, and if necessary keep them from not seeing us, be we didn't want them to get too confused. After your mind has been tampered with, you get confused, and we didn't want any car crashes on our hands.

We got to the woods and just as we did I heard an amplified voice ring out over the town. "There are suspected killers roaming around! Three have been spotted, and three are said to travel with them! The parade has been canceled! Do NOT leave your houses until further notice. Those who do with be charged with obstruction of justice, this is a small town, and we know they are here. Those with a CCW need to grab your guns and load them. Let no one into your home!"

A cold fear gripped me. I hadn't even thought of that! What were we supposed to do now? Angel and Nudge looked to me for confirmation. I nodded.

We were still on, though now, rather than having ten to fifteen minutes from the time the bombs went off, we had less than five to get out of this unsuspecting town. Before, the explosion could be passed off as fireworks and wouldn't be responded to with this many men. Now, they would jump to the conclusion that it was us. They would be right, but it was still and unappealing thought.

"We have to go faster!" I shouted. Grunting Angel ran faster. I felt guilty about making her run so hard, Nudge and I had longer legs, so we weren't yet sprinting. Angel was sprinting, and had been for over a mile. My baby was tougher than any steel nail you could find, but even she needed breaks.

A minute or so later Nudge asked over her shoulder, "Do you think it would be safe to fly yet?"

"Yup, fly Ang," I responded. I sensed her relief as she snapped out her wings in the next area big enough to do so. We flew back to camp, near the site and found the boys relaxing by a fire.

"What are you doing?! They are coming, right now," I shouted urgently.

Iggy looked over into my direction, eyes resting so close to mine I was again shocked at how he did it. "Relax. Everything is set," he assured me, or tired to.

"Set? Everything is set? No it isn't. We failed to think about what would happen if they canceled the parade because of our appearance, or if they sent all the police out searching for us. When that bomb goes off, we have two minutes, tops, to get out of here," I said, somewhat frantically. In all our planning, we hadn't thought of this.

Gazzy's eyes widened. "You got chased by the boys in blue?" he asked, sounding not fearful but awed.

"Now is totally not the time," I sternly replied. I didn't feel like recounting the not so exciting tale that the Gasman was sure to want to hear. "Now, we have to get to that site, you have to show us where everything is," I said to no one in particular.

"Can I ride with Angel?" I heard a voice from my backpack ask. She smiled, and normally I would have too, at their bond, but right now I just wanted to go. I pulled my backpack off and handed it to Fang to hold while I took Total out. Handing him to Angel, she opened her backpack and left a big enough opening that he could stick his head out.

Angel looked at him meaningfully and he turned back to me. "Thanks," he grudgingly said. I nodded.

Taking a deep breath I tried to calm myself. Iggy began kicking over the fire and handed the bucket of extra water to Fang to dump on it. Once the fire was out I looked around. Our bags were packed and we were ready to go.

Taking off in silence, I knew we were all listening for the same thing, footsteps, or even sirens, signaling that we had been seen by either of the two evils. Right now, either would be disastrous.

Slowly slanting my wings down, I began descending. Never before had I felt so detached from my own body, like my body, not me, was about to do something that I had no control over.

Fang's pov

This morning when Max left she was tense. We all were, but if she didn't settle down a little bit than she was going to get an ulcer by the end of the day. I almost grinned at the thought of Max going to a doctor to get medication, for I heard that ulcers were very painful.

'Why, Miss Ride, do you think you have developed an ulcer?' the hypothetical doctor in my head would ask. Max would shrug. 'Do you have many stressors in your life?' the doctor would ask.

She would get a slight grin on her face before answering, 'Other than the constant fear of getting captured by mutants and tortured, and being a mother to three, but having to take care of seven of us? Oh, and my being a mutant, too. So no, I guess not many.' The doctor would look at her in utter shock and tell her to go up to floor three, the mental ward.

We had landed, my scenario in my head having taken up the whole flight, and were now scouring the grounds mapping everything out. Iggy was walking around, trailing his hands over every surface he came across, his mental map being the most important because he wouldn't have a visual one to go by.

I sighed, renewed hate for the Whitecoats and anyone else working for Itex flooding me. "Gazzy, how many feet around do the explode?" I asked. I had just come across a big bucket of nails that were bent slightly or the head was bigger or smaller than normal. This bucket was for nails that we deformed. They would certainly work as projectiles, and I wasn't sure how far they would go. We were going to be waiting a hundred feet or so form the actual explosion area, but you never know.

"Most will go about 10, maybe a bit less or a bit more," he replied without hesitation.

"Don't put any near here," I stated pointing to the bucket. "Don't want these flying at our faces."

Gazzy nodded, but Iggy didn't. "Bucket of nails," Gazzy clarified.

Iggy nodded, comprehension dawning on his face. "Seems like it would work in action movies, but let's not test if it does in real life, hum?"

"Sounds good. Where are the bombs?" I asked cueing that we needed to start actually working.

Simultaneously both pulled off their backpacks. Upon opening the zippers I was able to see shiny metal, plastic-y looking stuff, and G-d only knows what else.

"There are about 75, I think," Iggy said proudly. "But they aren't all time able."

I nodded, thinking. "So if one goes off by remote, then the one next to it will go off from the concussion blast?" I asked.

Iggy smiled, wiping non-existent tears from his face, "I've taught you well." Gazzy chortled.

I walked over and grabbed a handful. Walking around the border, about every ten feet I put a new bomb down, placing it unobtrusively. When the border was finally done, I went inside, working in a spiral. Gazzy and Iggy were working on some last minute things, setting the remote to a certain setting, distance, ect.

I was just over halfway done when Gazzy announced, "We're done!"

I nodded, "I'm not quite."

Gazzy walked behind me, starting from where I started, and counted my steps, making sure that they were no more than ten feet away. Every ten bombs I had put, he placed a new one, remote activated.

When we had finished the field, Iggy was in the middle of the field. "Want to put biggie in the middle?" he asked Gazzy, a smirk on his face to rival mine. They both looked to me.

Stuffing my hands in my pockets and whistling, while looking around, I pretended not to hear them. Gazzy then simpered, and went to his backpack, which we had taken no bombs from, and pulled out several little bombs. When he got to the bottom, I saw one that was just smaller than a bowling ball.

My eyes widened. "what's that things area?" I asked. They both knew I meant how far would it blow up, and they both grinned.

"If we planned it right, and we did, then over 50 feet," Iggy said, looking very arrogant.

I very slowly nodded. "I have no clue what you are doing, so you should hurry before I get a clue," I said. I already felt guilty, but I didn't want any of those erasers to get away. Max wanted one to live, to be able to tell Itex what happened, but that would be a liability. I don't want Itex knowing how we stage this thing. I just want them to know that we do stage it, and they die.

After they carefully walked it to the middle of the field and set it down next to a stack of wood, placing one of the sheets of plywood over it, so it wasn't visible, we started back.

Getting there just minutes before Max I saw her looking even tenser that she had this morning, and now she was looking over her shoulder too. She began instantly.

By the time she was done, I was nearly shaking my head. I knew nothing that had happened was her fault, just terrible planning on our part.

When she said that they had been chased, my gallantry instantly came to the surface. I looked Angel, Nudge and then Max over, checking to see if they were at all hurt. If any one of them had been hurt, I would throttle the entire police department, even though he knew any one of them could do it for themselves.

We took off for the field, flying low so as not to be seen.

After landing on the outskirts of the woods, Iggy began to explain everything to them, telling them how every few bombs there would be a trigger, and that would make the rest go off. Curiously, he left out biggie in the middle.

Another sting of guilt accompanied that thought.

Once everything was settled, and everyone knew the plan (which was relatively simple. Sit in silence, wait, and then blow 'em up and get out.) They debated on whether or not to sit separately or in one group.

No one could agree on the best way to hide out and time was slowly passing us by. I looked up at the sky. It was about 2 in the afternoon. They were alerted at about 9. That gave them five hours to get here, and something told me that they were going to get here as fast as non-humanly possible.

"Guys, they have had five hours to get here, we need to hide," I said quietly, but somehow everyone heard me.

Max looked shocked. "Five hours?" she seemed a little frantic. I pointed up to the sky and nodded. She clenched her jaw and said, "Together," like it was the final answer. Then again, when she really meant something, it was what happened.

"So… trees or ground?" Iggy asked a few seconds after Max stated that we need to hide.

She looked at him with worry in her eyes. "Get up in the trees, on that side of the clearing," and she started walking. She didn't bother making sure we would follow her; she knew when it really mattered we all would.

She scaled a tree and once she got up very high, she looked down at us, her eyes asking why the heck we weren't up there yet.

I walked over and grabbed Angel by the waist and hoisted her up so she could grab the closest branch to the bottom of the tree. Angel climbed up until she was right next to Max; Max made her go just a little higher. Just as she got up far enough that I couldn't hear what she was saying, I heard Total's voice coming from her backpack. Figures he wouldn't say anything near me.

The Gasman was next, and I figured that he wouldn't want me picking him up like I did Angel, to save a bit of his pride. We were family sure, but still we wanted to keep our pride intact. I cupped my hands and held it down so Gazzy could stand on it to reach up. He grinned slightly and stood on my hand, getting up into the tree.

"I think I'll fly," Nudge said, clearly worried, as she barely had spoken all day.

"Go ahead. Spread your wings," I replied. If she managed to fully extend her wings, and then flap, then I was a goose. This was a tightly packed forest, and there was no way that she would be able to find 12 to open and flap her wings. She sighed, seeing my point.

"Fine. But really, this is maybe not a good place to hide. What if they like… sense us? What if they have new powers to, and they can just sense us and know exactly where we are all the time?" she asked.

Cupping my hands and bracing my arms I replied, "Then we wouldn't need to tell them where we are, would we?"

"But what if it only works when they are close to us?" she asked after a slight contemplative pause. "Or what if they can just smell us? We haven't showered in a few days."

"We've gone longer than two days before without showering and still not got sniffed out," I said, losing my patience. Normally Nudge and I saw eye to eye on everything. I was able to calm her down by simply pointing out the facts. Today that was not the case.

Now she was halfway up the tree and I turned to Iggy. Seeming to sense my gaze he shook his head. "I can do it myself."

I bit my tongue, knowing that he couldn't. To be honest, I was shocked that Max, the best climber out of all of us, was able to do it alone.

"If I hoist you to that branch, then you'll have to pull me up," I said, ignoring his comment. As long as he didn't think that he was the only one of us older ones that needed help, I didn't think he would be as grudging letting me help.

He nodded, and I cupped his hands and squatted slightly, tensing all my muscles to be ready to lift him up. He lifted his foot up, but not quite enough. I put my hands under it and lifted my hands up to rest on my legs.

"One, two, three," he counted before putting his weight on his foot and reaching up the tree. He wasn't as heavy as I had expected, which was good considering he took a few extra seconds to find the branch and I had to lift him even higher.

He pulled himself up, and wrapped his legs around the trunk. Running his hands over the branch, looking for weak spots, he cracked his knuckles. He reached one hand down for me to grab, and held on with the other. Now that it came to it, I wasn't sure this was such a good idea. I might pull him out of the tree.

I grabbed his hand and slowly added weight to it. He groaned when I was fully depended on his hand, and I quickly walked up the side of the tree, while holding his hand to keep gravity from having its way with me. I reached the branch and grabbed it and he snatched his hand back. I got up into the tree right after Iggy, and Max was the lowest person, even though she had been first.

When I got close, she scooted out on the branch to let me pass her. Looking up, I saw Gazzy and Angel on the same branch, Angel tucked in between the tree trunk and Gazzy, and Nudge and Iggy on the same branch.

I got up a branch, and reached my hand down for Max. She frowned.

"If they come from that way, they will be able to see you," I said, pointing around the trunk to where we had just come from. Really I just felt safer knowing that she wasn't a lone target on her little perch.

"If they come from this way," she pointed the opposite way, "then they will see us all."

I looked at what we were wearing. All of us except Nudge had worn clothes that would blend in the surrounding area. She was wearing red. I told Angel to go in her bag and grab the extra hoodie we had brought to cover the red up. The hoodie was torn and blood stained. It was meant to be used for strips to stop the bleeding, if that was ever necessary. I hoped it wouldn't be needed, because right now it had a better purpose. Making Nudge blend in.

"Unless they know we're here, they'll never see us," I tried to comfort her. Shaking her head, she got on the branch with me. Who knew logic would actually work with her.

For a few minutes we sat in silence before Max finally snapped, she couldn't stand not knowing. "You have the remotes ready?"

Gazzy nodded, gesturing to his lap. She nodded one more time before we were silent again.

Slowly, I reached over and grabbed her hand, holding it tightly so she couldn't pull away. But she didn't even try. Instead she scooted closer to me.

When she did, I heard a slight 'aww," start from above me, and by the time I looked up Nudge was rubbing her side and Iggy was grinning down at me. I grinned back, halfheartedly.

Moments later, Iggy turned his empty eyes to our right. A silence even deeper than the one preceding it followed. I waited what seemed like years before I could hear what Iggy had heard before me. Footsteps, loud and heavy and many, many footsteps.

Squeezing Max's hand, I watched as well over a hundred erasers crept to the edge of the forest. I had to use my raptor vision to spot them; they were keeping low and trying there best not to be seen. That much was obvious.

I looked into the opening in the woods, cleared to build a grocery store. The little devices that were to destroy this batch of erasers were well hidden. I couldn't see many of them, even though I had placed them there.

They sat there for what felt like hours, not moving, not doing anything other than sitting and making us sweat it out. Suddenly one gestured forward, then at the ground.

Squinting, using my raptor vision, I saw what I thought were footprints. Still keeping low with guns drawn, they began to creep into the field.

"Not yet," Max breathed to Gazzy, even though he showed no intention of hitting the remote button yet.

The squadron continued forward, using a mixture of hand signals and speech to know where to go. They spread out throughout the filed, flipping over wood, and buckets, and looking in the heavy machinery.

Soon all but one of them was in the field, searching. The one that wasn't was walking the perimeter. He was barking out orders and coming ever closer to where we were hiding.

"Gazzy, do it," Max breathed. I barely caught it, so I tapped Iggys foot, and he tapped Gazzy's. When Gazzy looked down to me, I nodded. He took a deep breath and nodded back.

Before he had a chance to press the button, something unexpected happened. Firstly, the man in charge turned and looked in our direction, seeming to know we were there; and secondly, before the Gasser had a chance to press any button one of the scouting erasers stepped on a concealed bomb.

I watched everything happen in slow motion, the fifteen feet around the unfortunate eraser went up in flames, the bits of eraser that flew thirty feet into the air, the leader looking slowly around the ground until he spotted the congregation of footprints that I had so stupidly left.

I cursed myself as he put two and two together and slowly trailed his gaze up the tree. Suddenly, Max's hand was torn from mine, and the commander was shouting.

**A/N Alright guys... sorry this one took longer than the prmised 25 reviews but i was busy reading a good book, and didnt take time to check my e-mial so see if i had any more reviews. so here is the latest chapter**

**i want 30 more reviews (the next chapter is action packed, so i want a few more for ya this time) before i post again, so work really hard, spend ten seconds telling me your opinion of this. thanks!**

**edited by miz636 btw. thank her, bc she is a genius at editing! and helping me out of my writers block**


	33. The Storm II

Chapter 32

_Fang's pov_

_I watched everything happen in slow motion, the fifteen feet around the unfortunate eraser went up in flames, the bits of eraser that flew thirty feet into the air, the leader looking slowly around the ground until he spotted the congregation of footprints that I had so stupidly left._

_I cursed myself as he put two and two together and slowly trailed his gaze up the tree. Suddenly, Max's hand was torn from mine, and the commander was shouting._

Max's pov

Watching the man suddenly blow up of no apparent reasons sent me into a slight shock. I looked down to see what the leader was thinking. He was paying no attention to the men that were scrambling to get away from the edges of the field.

He paid them no attention, as he was looking at the ground, studying it meticulously. He spotted the footprints seconds after I did.

I tapped Iggys leg and whispered 'go' to him, squeezed Fangs hand and leaped from the tree.

About ten feet down I landed hard on a thick branch, but bent my legs so they absorbed the impact. The leaves barely rustled.

His arms tensed as he spotted the combination of different shoeprints right under the tree.

I leapt from the branch and used my feet to clear out some of the twigs that were rapidly flying at my face. The leader pulled his gun as his eyes trailed up the tree. He saw me coming when he had just enough time to shout out.

"Arg!" he screamed just as my feet smashed into his face. His eyes were cold as ice, gray, and uncaring. He didn't care that his man had just died on his watch, nor did he seem to care that there had definitely been a trap set up for them.

He was out cold before he hit the ground. I felt spikes of pain shoot up my leg that had been broken a few months previously, but not strong enough to keep me from saying, "Gazzy, blow the stuff up!"

With his hearing being heightened, like the rest of us, he heard me. To Iggy, it was as if I was standing right next to him, even though I was fifty feet below him, but to Gazzy it was just a whisper. Hopefully, to the erasers, it was silent.

I looked out to the field between the cover of bushes, and expected to see the erasers getting blasted to pieces.

Instead I was met with a sight all the more terrifying. About ten erasers were running at me, having heard there captain shout. The rest tore their sights away from the ground long enough to see that there men were running with guns drawn towards the woods.

They all started running at me too. Before the second group had taken five steps bombs were exploding, setting off other bombs. The blast was enormous. My ears rung a little bit, but thankfully I could still hear, and I had to shake my head to refocus. All the bombs hadn't gone off at once, thank god or we would all be deaf, instead the remote ones went first, blasting the others into action next to them on either side until the chain met up with a chain of bombs from another remote activated bomb. I would have admired Iggy and Gazzy's handiwork had it not been for the immediate threat.

The erasers that had heard their captions cry were sprinting at me, and they had guns. 'Get them away from your flock' was the only thing I could think.

So I turned and ran. Running faster than I have ever run before, erratically, zigzagging randomly to keep from getting shot, I was running. The shots rang out behind me, but there was no where for me to go except forward. I made it maybe a quarter mile before I knew I had to stop. I couldn't run forever, and there shots were getting closer and closer with each step I took. They were gaining on me.

I dived over a bushed and rolled a few times until I kicked my legs out to stop myself. I rolled on my stomach to the side and grabbed a tree limb that I had seen before I rolled.

Nine gunmen against one girl with a small tree branch, I think they have the advantage. Still on the ground I grabbed a handful of dirt and tossed it at them. I stood up and kicked the ground, sending more dirt flying in there direction. A few guys coughed, and a few others were actually stupid enough to cover their eyes, which was exactly what I wanted them to do.

I gripped the branch as tight as I could and swung at the men, hoping to jar their small brains a little bit. I managed to hit a few of them over the head.

Upon realizing that they were under attack the men that covered their faces dropped their hands to reach again for their guns. I swung my leg up, effectively knocking the gun from the closest erasers hand. I tossed it over my shoulder into the bushes. I would get it later.

I dropped to my knees when a shot rang out so close to my ear that I felt my hair move. I picked up the branch, taking advantage of the fact that I was right at foot level, and swiveled it in a full circle, knocking over the erasers closest to me.

Before I could pick myself up I had four erasers coming at me. Now, if you have never fought more than two people at once, you don't know how drastically the fighting techniques have to change. You can't kick or punch or anything of the sort. Now it is about outsmarting your opponents. You punch one in the face, and you get three punches. You can't attack individually. You have to wait for them to attack you.

The first eraser to make an attack grabbed his gun and hit me with the butt of it in the stomach. I dry heaved for a few seconds while they broke into laughter. What angered me was that they were taking pleasure on beating on someone who is unarmed, and half their size. Now, I'm not helpless, but it still angered me. I saw two more stumble to their feet and I felt hints of dread fill me.

One that had just staggered to his feet grinned wickedly at me. He bent over and picked up his gun. "How about we make Miss. I'm-all-that-birdie dance?" he asked. The other goons looked a bit doubtful, but laughed anyway.

I sneered at him, having my own little laugh fest in my head. Me, dancing, that was about as likely as a golden egg falling on my head at this second.

Then I understood what he meant when they circled me, filling in every gap so I had no way to escape, and aimed his gun at my feet. I jumped at the last second and hissed at him.

Again, he laughed, and the other erasers aimed at my feet, too. Hating myself for doing exactly what they wanted me to do, I jumped around the little circle on my tip toes, trying to avoid getting shot. At this range, with what gun they were carrying, my foot would get shattered.

My breathing came heavy, I was tiring quickly moving as fast as I did, and with every jump I felt myself feeling a bit more hopeless. I looked for somewhere to spread my wings and saw no where.

The gunshots rang out all around me; they were mercilessly shooting at my feet, forcing me to jump around rather than try to fight them. When one guy ran out of bullets I got a very stupid idea.

My next jump I jumped his way, hoping they would think nothing of it, and wrestled his gun from his hands, forcing him to back up so I got out of the circle. He stood in front of me, for now, so I didn't need to worry about being shot.

Finally I yanked the gun from him and clubbed him over the head with it. I fell with him to avoid the shower of bullets coming my way, and rolled right into the feet of an eraser, knocking him down on top of me, protecting me from getting shot.

I grabbed his gun and tossed it into the bushes next to the last one I threw. I didn't have to wait more than a second for the eraser to try to regain his footing, or for his fellow bastards to try and pull him up.

When one of his friends reached his hand down to yank him up I was ready for it. I had a seconds debate on whether to hit his hand or pull him down. If I pull him down, he can get back up, but if I smash his bones he can't shoot me. That was all I needed.

I brought the butt of the gun down with as much force as I could right on his knuckles. I heard a crunch and knew that if the bones weren't broken, they were at least fractured. Then I kicked him as hard as I could where I knew it would bring him to his knees.

I rolled to the side again, knowing that the erasers were taking aim again. That was another thing about fighting multiple erasers at once, things go faster. They had probably only shot at my feet for 5 minutes, and I had only been on the ground for seconds. You had to move, move, move when you are outnumbered.

I brought the gun down on the erasers toes and he pulled his leg to his chest to cradle his toe. Grabbing the back of his knee and pulling forward, he fell. I jumped up and rotated in a circle, using my momentum to smash the butt of the gun onto the eraser who was on his knees face. I felt a moments regret at attacking someone while they were down, but pushed that aside, as they would have done the same to me.

Six more left. I ducked and jumped around, noticing that the eraser whose nose and who knows what else I had just broken still had his gun in his hand.

Looking quickly around at the other erasers I had to resist the urge to close my eyes and grit my teeth. They were angry and had guns drawn, and aimed at my chest. I had no where to go.

I backed up as quickly as I could, looking everywhere for somewhere to go. Trees and grass surrounded me, but in all reality, I didn't know these woods and had no idea where I could hide from six Glocks, all aimed at me. If I moved, they shot.

I sighed. One eraser grinned. "See it our way, now?" he taunted.

Knowing it may get me killed I tilted my head innocently, "See what?"

"You can't win. You never had a chance, you are defeated. Do you understand" he asked, mocking me, talking to me like I was child.

I looked around at my chances. The unconscious eraser whose face I had mutilated was my only chance. He had a gun, with bullets left. Why oh why had I thrown those other guns?

Deep down I knew. I wasn't ready to shoot someone, to watch brain matter splatter the nearest trees. But now, for my life, I was ready.

"'fraid I don't," I retorted, knowing I would get hurt for it.

Before I had a chance to block it, he had hit me over the head with a solid fist. Despite my efforts, I fell to my knees.

"Do you understand me?" he asked again.

Again I said "Nope." Even facing some major pain in my head I couldn't get my defiant side to shut its mouth.

I saw his gun flying at me, and before I had a chance to even think of how to block it, it had struck me. It felt like my cheek bone had been smashed into my brain. I closed my eyes briefly and gritted my teeth. I felt the skin ripped from my bone, and tissue torn from where it previously was.

"I bet you understand now," he said, superiorly.

I could barely open my mouth, knowing that it may just fall off, but I still managed a smart ass remark. "I don't speak jackass, can you try English?"

I gritted my teeth as he brought the butt of the gun down on my other cheek. The skin was again torn from everything that held my face in one piece. The tears in my eyes were nearly winning, ready to fall any second. I wouldn't let that happen.

Now both of my cheeks were fighting over who got to smash my brain first. I felt bile rise in my throat, and remembered the other times when my head had hurt so badly that I had barfed. I hadn't had a splitting headache like that in a long time.

"_Max, if you want to make it out of this, use your brai_n," the voice said. It was so unexpected that I almost gasped, but knew that I couldn't. I hadn't heard from Jeb in so long I was beginning to wonder if he had abandon me. I had tried on several occasions to talk to him, but never got a response. Now, in my possible dying hour here he was, giving me fortune cookie bull crap.

I didn't respond, I couldn't. I was concentrating on this world, the one that was hurting me so much. "I speak pain. Pain is my favorite language, and if you don't start answering me, I am going to revert to my favorite language. Do you understand?" he asked. The other erasers seemed to be a bit on edge about him threatening me.

"Yes," I muttered, grinning mentally. If things went as planned from here on out, I was golden.

"Good," he said, sounding shocked himself.

"Ah shit. I lost it, what were you saying?" I asked, spitting out blood, knowing I would need to make room for more after that comment. They were treating me like I was an object to be conquered. That turned adrenaline into pure rage. Adrenaline+ rage+ me= hell for them.

Dropping his gun, the eraser pulled his boot back and swung it at my face. I moved to the side at the last second, barely avoiding getting kicked in the face.

The eraser shrieked with rage, angry that my face had escaped his boot. Spotting my only chance I dived for his gun. He stomped on my hand just as I got a hold on the gun.

I nearly cried out, but resisting the urge I did something better; I spit on his boot. He lifted it minutely, giving me ample opportunity to grab the gun and drag it toward me. My right hand wasn't cooperating, not after he had stepped on it, so I gripped the gun in my left hand and stood up.

"Put your guns down," I said shakily, sounding like my mouth was full of marbles.

One laughed. "We have five guns on you missy. You don't stand a chance," he said, goading me.

I tried my best to aim and pulled the trigger, aiming for the chest of the one who had jeered me.

I hit his shoulder, slightly off mark, and then jumped to the side to avoid the bullets that were sure to rain in on me. Sure enough the tree behind where I was got five bullets stuck in the trunk. I turned and shot another eraser, this time my aim was sure and I hit him dead in the chest.

He dropped like a rock and I leapt to the right to avoid more bullets. My head was throbbing; every time my heart beat I was hit with a new wave of pain, more powerful then the last.

I knew that every one of these erasers had to die for the job to be done, so I took aim at another eraser and before I even shot I started running to the side. I shot and he was down, then I shot one more time and the next eraser was down. I walked over to the group of bodies, either dead, soon to be, or unconscious. The eraser whose face I had smashed was dying from a crushed skull, but slowly. Taking mercy on him, I shot him too, ending his suffering.

The erasers who had gotten his hand broken was lying on the ground, pretending to be dead. Gritting my teeth, I shot him. Now there were two erasers left, both knocked out. I walked to them, grabbed their guns and ammo, went behind the bush and grabbed the guns I had thrown, and started running back to camp.

I showed up just as the sirens started blaring. I saw my flock, all seeming to be unharmed, other than the usual slight bruising and cuts. Fang, on the other hand, had three large gashes running down his face, and his shirt was ripped open. He looked up to me, and his eyes widened. I had no idea what I looked like but I shook my head.

"Guys, we have to go, now!" I shouted. Fang tossed me the backpack, and I caught it, tossed everything in it, and ran to the clearing, giving myself space to spread my wings.

Everyone took off after me, babbling incessantly. They were worried about me, I got that, but we had to get out of there fast.

"Fast as you can guys, we have to book it. Someone got Total? I'll tell you 'bout it later," I said vehemently as Angel opened her backpack and Total jumped in.

Gritting my teeth and forcing myself to keep on my 'I'm fine' face I pushed forward. We skimmed the tops of the trees, so we wouldn't be as easily spotted.

I didn't make it a full hour before I had to land, if only for a moment. I had seen a lake right up above, and figured I could drop the guns there. Well, all but one, anyhow.

"Guys, lets stop, just for a minute, so I can make sure you all are ok," I shouted over the winds.

I got a few nods, and a few actual word replies. Fang flew up right next to me and said, quiet as he could, "Are you ok?"

I nodded stiffly.

As soon as we landed Iggy turned to me. "So what happened?"

I closed my eyes, "give me an aspirin and I'll tell you." He handed me some Ibuprofen, which was the same thing to me. "I couldn't let that leader tell them where we were hiding, so I took him out," I began.

Gazzy cut me off, "That was a really cool jump!" he exclaimed. I opened my eyes and sent him a look. "Sorry," he muttered.

"Then they saw me," I continued, "So I had to lead them away. I got them away, and kicked their butts real easy, and came back to you guys," I finished, editing a lot.

"So what happened to your face?" Fang asked, knowing that I was leaving a lot out. I looked him dead in the eye, fixed him up a really good glare, telling him to drop it, I'd tell him later, and replied,

"A branch caught it as I was going by it."

"I was carelessly left in a tree, dangling from fifty feet up," Total said indignantly. Angel looked at him,

"You were safer up there; I didn't want you to get hurt. If we got hurt it would be up to you to help us," Angel said to Total. 'The day my life is put in his hands' I thought. He huffed, looking like he felt a bit better about it, but still a bit hurt.

Suddenly Gazzy looked at his feet. "I'm sorry I didn't push the buttons when you told me too," he said shamefully. "I just…"

It was my turn to cut him off. "You did fine. Next time lets just plan a bit better, all of us," I said. Looking everyone over I saw that Fang was the only other person who was bleeding freely. Iggy had some pretty good scratches too, but they had stopped bleeding and were crusting over.

"Fang, help me for a sec," I said, grabbing my backpack and walking to the lake. "Iggy, check everyone over, Nudge, get out some granola bars for everyone," I ordered.

Nudge seemed pleased that I singled her out for a job again, like she had with watch, and Iggy nodded obediently.

Fang and I walked for the lake and I opened my backpack a bit. "Do we keep one?" I asked

He nodded, "and the ammo," he said.

We worked on tossing the other eight guns in the lake when I start questioning him. "What happened to you?"

He looked down, "Tried to get down like you had, and it didn't work," he said, pointed to a gash on his arm I hadn't noticed. "Then some loose bomb material caught my face. The few erasers who got out came at me then. I told everyone to stay up there, didn't want metal to get them too. Iggy came down, obviously, so everyone did too. One of the erasers transformed, and clawed me," he finished pointing to his chest.

"Ari all over again," I said. I wasn't surprised that Iggy hadn't listened to Fang, I but had thought that Angel at least would.

He shook his head. It was true, this wasn't as bad, but it did bring back memories "You?" he asked. "What really happened?"

This time I shook my head, while saying, "Not now. It's a long story."

Before he had a chance to say anything more, I walked back to the flock. "Iggy, can you just give me the peroxide real quick?" I asked. Nudge tossed me a granola bar and I grinned at her, thinking about how bad my jaw hurt.

He walked over to me and instead of handing it to me he stuck his hand out. "Your face?" he questioned. When I didn't reply he added, "You're talking different."

"Ahh, I'll do it," I said. I didn't know exactly what he would say about it, and I didn't want him to freak out the kids.

He snatched the peroxide back. "That means that I really need to do it," he said, able to pick up that I didn't want him to know how back it was.

Lowering my voice until it was barely louder than my breathing I muttered, "Look, Ig, it hurts, but we have to keep going."

"Fine. I won't try to stop you from going anywhere," he sighed.

I sighed and grabbed his hand and brought it up to my face. His jaw tightened, and his eyes turned hard as granite. "So what did it? It wasn't a branch, this was deliberate," he stated.

I hesitated, not really wanting to tell him that I had refused to make my life easier by just saying I understood. Now, it seemed like a stupid thing to keep provoking them, but at the time, that was the only thing on my mind.

"The butt of a gun," I finally said. His eyes hardened a little more.

"Are they dead?" he asked coldly.

"Does it matter?" I sighed. I was fighting my hardest to keep from my mind that I had killed seven people today, not to mention the bombs that killed how many others. That was on my head too.

"Yes, it does. We need to get somewhere to camp for the night," he stated. I knew he would want me to know move much, whenever there was a head injury he didn't want us moving much, but still.

I narrowed my eyes at him and he seemed to sense it, defending himself, "It's been a long day, everyone's tired!"

"Fine. First we have to get at least another two hours away," I said. To be honest, I was glad that he had suggested it, as I was about ready to pass out, whether it be from pain, loss of blood, or fatigue.

He nodded, "Are we going north, or south?"

"North," I said after little contemplation. North meant it would be cooler, and I was sick of being constantly sweating.

Fang was sitting on the ground eating his granola bar, as was everyone else. I looked up at the sky and was shocked to see it was around six o'clock. We hadn't eaten since sunrise this morning. I opened my backpack, stuffing the Glock and ammo to the bottom next to the sawed off rifle, and then pulled out some canned fruit.

"Heads up," I said, tossing one to everyone, and an extra to Angel to open for Total. They scarfed it, using the silverware from last night to eat with. I ate none, as I didn't think my stomach could handle any food right now, much less my jaw chew it.

Minutes later we were in the air. Fang was flying directly under me the whole time, not every veering off course. "What are you doing?" I asked him, irritated.

"You didn't eat anything," he stated instead of answering my question.

I didn't respond, only flying a little bit faster. My cheeks, jaw, basically my whole head was throbbing, not to mention my stomach where it had been hit.

Right now, I needed to get somewhere where I could have ten minutes to myself, beyond curious gazes. I needed to work out how I felt about killing seven men and being responsible for the deaths of somewhere around one hundred others.

Right now, somewhere in the world, Itex was suffering the losses I had created. This thought nearly made me grin, before I felt absolutely horrified at myself. I was grinning at someone's death.

I clenched and unclenched my jaw, focusing on the pain it created, to keep my mind from wandering to more dangerous thoughts. I remembered to fly with the tips of my wings, to make me more graceful and agile.

The blood was pounding in my ears, and I was feeling the fatigue of not eating much, my injuries, and my nerves being shot.

I hung my head, closing my eyes. With everything I was worth I tried to ignore what my mind was screaming at me, that I was a murderer.

When I opened my eyes, I saw the tip of my nose was a bit discolored. I raised my hand carefully and touched it, making sure to avoid the sides where I could feel it palpating.

My hand was covered in blood when I brought it far enough out where I could see it. Gently as I could, I touched my cheeks.

That was where the blood was coming from; I could feel it oozing out of every pore. I looked around to make sure that no one was watching me, and pulled my shirt up to pat my face. I gently blotted the blood away, and hoped I would stop bleeding.

Finally after what seemed to be forever I felt that we were far enough away that it would be safe enough to stop. Judging by the sun it was only just past nine, which put us about three hours to get away from the site of our latest destruction.

I tilted my outermost feathers towards the ground, beginning descent. Tilting my head only slightly, to make sure everyone was following me, I landed. Automatically I looked away from everyone when they landed to hide my bleeding face.

"I'm going to go get water," I said shakily. I grabbed my backpack, hoping that they would fall for the ruse and think I had something in there to get water in.

"I'll come," Fang said swiftly.

Being careful to keep my ever bleeding face away from him, I said "No! I, err, I have to go to the bathroom too." I had said it too frantically, he knew something was up.

"I won't look," he declared. "We'll be back guys."

I began walking and when I heard his footsteps jogging slightly to catch up to me, I started running. I just had to find water to rinse my face, and somewhere where I could sit and just think.

His foot falls picked up tempo. He was chasing me. As my pulse rose, I felt my face begin to bleed a little harder.

"Max, what the hell is wrong?" he shouted after a moment. He sounded worried, I mentally cursed. Who or what I was cursing, I had no idea. Was I cursing him for following me? Was I cursing myself for not wanting to be followed? Was I cursing the ground for letting him run over it, gaining speed on me? Finally I came to the stream that I had seen from above.

I didn't slow as I approached it, I only ran faster. I tore my backpack from my shoulders and threw it on the dry ground. When I was waist deep, I cupped my hands and splashed water onto my face.

The water ran off my face red, instead of its natural clear. I got two more splashes in before the tears came.

By the time Fang got to me, I was hysterical. He wrapped his arms around my waist, hugging me from behind; simultaneously doing two things, holding me in place, and trying to comfort me.

"I'm sorry," he said, clearly confused.

That only made me cry harder. I knew I would have to kill erasers today, but I had foolishly thought everything would go as planned, and the bombs would do it. That wouldn't be so hard. The first time I pulled that trigger, I was doing it in defense. It was my life or theirs, and I will always pick mine. If he was the only eraser I had to kill, the one that had taunted me, I think I would have been fine.

But the others, though they would have killed me had they had the chance, they didn't. I subdued them, and then killed them when they were not a threat to me.

This thought forced another sob out of my mouth. They were by no means innocent, but I was just as much a killer as they were now.

The pain in my face was palpable, and growing only worse as the salty tears burned new tracks down my bloodied cheeks.

I cried for the killing I had done tonight, I cried for knowing that I had gone in there knowing I would do it, I cried for running away from Fang, I cried for the sake of letting it all out.

Finally, after a few minutes I calmed down a bit. Fangs arm never loosened as he whispered that he was sorry in my ear.

With one last sniffle, I tried to tug my way free of his arms. "Max," he said, questioning me on what I was doing. He let me do what I wanted though, not forcing himself on me, his grip on my loosened.

I turned around to face him, and when he saw my face he gasped. "You're bleeding!" he accused, sounding worried.

I nodded. He tentatively grabbed my hand, seemingly wondering if I would burst into tears again, and pulled me to shore.

I gave him a smile, more for his benefit than that I was truly happy.

"Are you ok?" he asked, a deep crease in his forehead. I nodded slowly. I think I am, I feel better, anyways. "So what was that all about? No, actually, what happened back there?" he asked, referring to in the woods.

I didn't want to tell him, but he told me his side, and I had told him I would tell him. I don't go back on bargains. I took a deep breath, a tad winded from my sob-fest. "I didn't want them to realize you were up in the tree, so I ran away from it, hoping they would follow. They started shooting, I'm sure you heard. I tried to fight them, but there were nine of them.

"Finally, they surrounded me and started firing bullets at my feet so I would jump around like a little birdie. Eventually I grabbed one of their guns and hit the guy with it, then I tossed the gun into the woods," Fangs incredulous look stopped me. "I wasn't worried enough to shoot them yet, even though I knew I would have to. Eventually the got me again, and I fell to my knees," I nearly grinned at this part, even though it hurt so bad moving my jaw I couldn't stand it, nor could I stand the pain. I was simply proud of myself for my comebacks, even when I thought I was going to die. "He asked me if I understood that I was at his mercy, and I told him I didn't. That is when he gave me this," I pointed to my right cheek. "Then he asked if I understood yet. I told him I didn't speak jackass, and asked if he could try English. He gave me this," I pointed to my other cheek. At this point, I considered stopping because Fang looked so outraged. "When he asked if I understood yet, I said I did," Fang breathed relief, and anger at the same time. He didn't like the idea of them being able to control me any more then I did, less even. "Then I told him that I forgot and asked if he could start over. He was so angry he dropped the gun and tried to kick me. I dodged it, and finally took him down, got his gun," I got a little choked up again, "and killed him. Then I killed everyone else, save two that needed to be messengers," I finished.

He nodded. "You had to, you know," he said. I knew he wasn't entirely sure what to say to comfort me, because he wasn't sure why I was crying. Rather than keep him guessing, I decided to fill him in.

"I am just like them, I killed when I didn't need to," I squeaked out, the feeling of being a murderer coming back.

Before I had finished he shook his head and put his hands on the back of my head and looked me dead in the eyes. "You are nothing like them," and he kissed me. Gently, because my lip was split in three places, and my nose may be broken, same goes for my cheeks. Still, the kiss was worth the pain that I had suffered to get it. "If you were like them, believe me I wouldn't have done that," he said.

I cracked a smile, and he smiled back at me. His smile took my breath away, and made me want to freeze this moment in time so I would forever have him smiling at me.

We sat down on the wet ground, in our wet cloths, and he slowly asked, "Why did you run?" sounding very small.

I shook my head, not answering. I really had no reason to run from him, I just wanted to be alone.

"Just tell me if I did anything," he said, still sounding small. "Tell me if you were angry."

I laughed a small laugh, "Not at you, I wasn't. Just myself," I reveled.

Incredulously he shook his head. He stood up and brushed his hands off on his blooded shorts, and reached his hands down to pull me up.

"Still got to use the bathroom?" he asked. Even when we didn't have a bathroom at our disposal, we still said that we had to use it when we needed to relieve ourselves.

"I never did."

The look on his face told me that he thought so. "I'm proud of you, you know," he said slowly. I looked at him, shocked. Hadn't we done enough of the feelings thing for today, or if I'm lucky, this week?

"You did good, telling them you wouldn't fall at their feet back there," he said.

I tried to hold back my proud grin, as I knew it would hurt my face. Feeling a bit overtired, as I knew that sleep deprivation was slightly to blame for my mood swings, I decided that I needed to sleep. I didn't want to bust into tears again, then be proud of myself, then feel crummy again; it really fries your nerves.

"I'll take second watch," I said as we got back to camp.

He objected immediately. "You're hurt, you can't watch."

I lowered my eyebrows at him. "So are you, so you cant either," I jested.

He frowned, "is your face still bleeding?" I touched my face and was happy to feel that it wasn't. I shook my head and before I had a chance to look up at him he had kissed me again.

My eyes closed, and I knew that I should be somewhere else, but I couldn't put my finger on where. For the first time in all of our kisses, his tongue brushed my lips. I knew what he wanted, don't ask me how, but I knew he wanted me to part my lips. My heart started pounding so hard I was sure Iggy could hear it, a mile away.

He pulled away before I had come to a decision on whether to give him what he wanted, as did I, or not. His hand touched my face, feather light, and he frowned deeply.

"You're bleeding. It's your heart rate. You can't get too excited of the scab breaks," he stated, sounding very sad that I was hurt, but also like he had just won some huge argument.

He basically had. I narrowed my eyes and grabbed his hand, and stalked back to camp. I wanted to stamp away angrily, but I couldn't. Not when he was only doing what he was for my own good.

"How about Nudge just watches with you?" he asked.

I wasn't sure it that was the best idea, second watch was hard, but she did need to be able to do all of them. I nodded, "I'll ask her."

She jumped at the chance, of course. We talked for a few minutes, all of us, about what we should have done differently. More planning was the common answer, then attention to details.

We laid the sheet out, and by the time we had collected enough wood for the night it was dark enough to start a fire and it not be too obvious. Black smoke against a black sky.

Iggy to out some dehydrated camper's dinners, two for each of us, and added the water that was left over to it. I told him that I didn't want any, and that I would just have some canned fruit. Iggy looked at me a bit funny, but didn't question it.

The peaches were mushy enough that I could chew them without too much pain. I ate three cans before I couldn't eat any more. I wasn't full, but my stomach was aching from the blood I had swallowed. You can swallow a pint of blood before you get sick, and I was sure I had swallowed almost that much.

Once we finished eating, Angel unrolled the sheet. I lay on the outside, and Fang came to sit next to me.

"I've got first watch," he said. I nodded, and stuck my fist out to stack with everyone. After we broke, I laid down on my back to keep my face from touching anything.

Without a pillow it was quite uncomfortable. Fang came and sat right at my head, crossed his legs, and put his hands under my head. Lifting it gently, he scooted forward so my head could rest where his legs crossed, giving me the most perfect pillow.

I smiled slightly before I closed my eyes for another night in the woods.

**A/N A few things about this chapter. 1-it makes my story 600 pages in book form, typed. 2- it is the 2nd longest chpater, only chapter 11 is long. 3- very fun to write. Also, a line I used in this chapter is from a movie, well, it is very similer to a movie. First person who guesses the movie will get a chapter dedication!**

**I Hope you enjoy the mix of fighting, fax, ect. Now, before you complain about max running away, how would you feel if you killed 4 people that weren't directly threaening you? Sure, they would have eventually, but at the time they werent. i think max would be conflicted about killing them, and would need a minute to herself. **

**And a reply to 'Billy' who i couldnt reply to b/c he didnt have a reply address- I am pretty good at fight scenes because i was in Tae-Kwon-Do for two years and was trained by the guy who trained Chuck Norris. (Yes, he really can fight, and he is as amazing at it as they make it seem like in the movies). I do fight a lot, mostly with my sister, but that doesnt mean that she isnt good. We are both brown belts in Tea-Kwon-Do, and so the fights get interesting, and she is about 50 -60 lbs heavier than me, to say the least. I do know a little about fighting... ok a lot, so that is why I am good. it has nothing to do with being creative... but thank you anyway!**

**Next... i couldnt decided whether to do 25 or 30 reviews until you get the next chpater, so i am just going to ask for _27_. this was action packed, hasfax, everything a story needs, right? So, i want _27 reviews_ before i post the next chapter. thank you to those of you who have been reviewing, and i do feel bad about having to beg you guys to do it, but i have to. when i didnt, i got only 15 reviews. so, please keep reviewing, and maybe i can take off the review number. So please, _27 reviews_!**


	34. Happiness

Chapter 33

Fang's pov

I devoted myself entirely to listening and looking for any signs of danger. Well, I tried to anyways. Max was, as per usual, distracting me.

She had a beautiful smile on her face, and every now and then she would roll her body to one side, never moving her head. I couldn't bring myself to get up to put wood on the fire; Max could do it when she got up for her watch. Right now, I was perfectly content sitting here all night.

Every now and then I couldn't resist any longer and would run my fingers through her hair, wondering at her reaction if she were to wake up at this very second. Suddenly, I got an image of her waking up and looking in disgust at me for taking advantage of the fact that she was sleeping to do something I wouldn't do during the day. Feeling like a pervert, I pulled my hands away and forced myself to listen.

All I heard was the cricket's chirps, the sound of a not so far off a pack of coyotes howling, the fire cackling, and the fireflies lighting up the air for a brief moment. Nothing that wouldn't happen on a normal night. Slowly, as the fire was reduced to embers, it stopped crackling.

Sighing, I knew that Max and Nudge's watch should have started already. "Nudge," I whispered, slightly prodding her, knowing it would take longer to wake her up than Max, and afterward I turned my attention to Max. "Hey, Max, it's your watch." I placed my hands on her shoulders and gently rubbed them. Her eyes popped open immediately and she winced.

Turning her neck slightly, she looked a little confused before she finally looked up to meet my imploring gaze. I could feel her tense up a bit, feeling awkward, and I didn't want that, so when she tried to sit up I kept my hands on her shoulders, holding her down.

"Give yourself a second to wake up," I answered her question before she asked. She rolled her shoulders and sent a small grin my way, and then reached her arms over her head to stretch. Her shirt pulled up slightly, showing her belly button. Before I had a chance to turn my gaze away to give her a chance to pull it down, knowing she wouldn't want me looking at her stomach, I saw something that nearly made me hurl.

Even in the faint light I could see a large black bruise the size of a CD was covering the lower part of her stomach, and a spot with the flesh rubbed right off in a pattern the size of the bottom of a pop can was visible. Slightly rectangular and _all_ violent, I was instantly angry. Noticing the look of pure wrath I'm sure was painted clearly on my usually masked face, Max looked down to see what I was staring at.

She grimaced, and reached to pull her shirt down. Thankful that the bruise was now hidden, I looked to her face. Our eyes locked, and she shrugged like it was no big deal.

Shaking my head to clear the anger that was still present in my head, I put my hands behind her back and pushed her into a sitting position. When she turned to look at me, question written clearly on her face, I tried to make my voice sound nonchalant. "Hope you at least puked on his boots for that one."

A slight grin ghosted her face. "Not quite." She didn't seem to be as angry as I was that she had gotten beaten with a piece of metal, beaten and made to beg for her life, which she of course didn't do, but the intent was still there. That made me sick to my stomach. If Max wasn't as crafty as she was and as well trained, she may have had to resort to that. Well, My Girl would never resort to anything quite that far, but still.

_My girl? _Where had that come from? Blinking to clear my mind, I said, "It's your watch," and turned away for a second.

"Thanks, I had no idea," she stated sarcastically, and she reached over to Nudge, her eyes still on my face, and poked her, "Nudge, hon, it's our watch." Nudge grumbled, still not fully awake, and Max tore her gaze from mine. "Well, if you're too tired, I can do it by myself," Max said, grinning manically.

Nudge sat up at once, "No, I'm not that tired," she said as she yawned in stark contrast to her words. "Alright, maybe a little bit, but I can still watch. I mean, you guys all say this is the hardest watch, but how can it be that hard? I'm up, aren't I? So really, I think you were all saying it to psyche me up. I'm right, aren't I? Ha! Caught ya!" she exclaimed, rambling, her words slurring slightly with tiredness. Even in a fit of tiredness, Nudge can talk 'til she drops. Amazing.

Max rolled her eyes, "Though so." After Max stood up and walked over to the fire and threw some kindling on it, she turned to me. "Forget to do something?" I shrugged. I didn't necessarily forget. "Like, put the wood in the fire so it didn't completely die?"

"Couldn't really get up," I replied, glancing pointedly at her. As I expected, she turned her gaze away and started blowing on the fire, trying to re-light it from the coals. I smirked, knowing I had won that one.

Small flames engulfed the kindling, so she added bigger pieces until we had a roaring fire again. Then she turned to me, "Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?" she whispered.

"Need a pillow," I whispered, and patted the ground by my head, knowing just as well as she did that I really didn't. If the least of my sleeping problems was that I didn't have a pillow, then I was doing fine. But, she obliged anyway, coming to sit above me, by my head and crossing her legs. I lifted my head, and she scooted closer, giving my head a place to rest.

Just before I closed my eyes, I saw Nudge grinning ear to ear at Max. You could see in her face that she wanted to say something, but the look Max was giving her seemed to keep her mouth shut. Grinning slightly to myself, I let the ever appealing thought of sleep swallow me.

Max's pov

Nudge and I sat in silence again, looking and listening for anything out of the ordinary. Often, enemies assume that the sounds and cover of night will hide their more malevolent sounds. Too many times we had been caught off guard at night, so now we listening for those noises that hinted at something more.

Now was when we needed to be attentive at watch most. Itex would be furious that we had not only escaped them, but also that we had killed many of their mutations in the process. They would be looking, and if any sign of us was left, then they were sure to come for us tonight when we would be weakest and most vulnerable. The Erasers that had survived had only known what condition I was in, which was fairly well considering, and had no idea if the rest of the flock was hurt, alive, or anything else about their status. So, Itex would undoubtedly assume that we were weakened and come for us tonight.

I thankfully remembered that my mom knew we had planned for this to happen tonight, so they had been prepared. Having had time, they took the mattress from the pull out couch and put it in the den we had made. They were going to sleep there tonight, just to be safe. It would be a tight fit having both of them on the mattress. Plus, of course, Akiela would want to be there with them. Since meeting Total, that dog had become proud, I swear it. She carried herself with a haughty air, if that was even possible for a dog.

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. Watch wasn't the time to ponder the meaning of life or anything else that took you attention away from your senses. I heard all of the sounds of nature and none that didn't belong filled the night.

I looked over to Nudge to make sure that she wasn't dozing off only to find her staring at me. When I caught her openly gawking at me, I raised my eyebrows in silent question. She grinned and looked pointedly at my hands. I followed her gaze and was shocked at what I saw.

My fingers, running through Fangs hair, smoothing out tangles I wasn't previously aware were there. I took a deep breath, collecting myself and looked up to meet her gaze, pretending that I had known the whole time what I was doing. She looked away, still grinning, and I pulled my hands from his hair.

Forcing myself not to feel a bit excited about being able to touch Fangs hair, I tried again to concentrate on my surroundings. The wind was always tossing Fangs hair every which way, and I had always wanted to touch it, if only a little. His hair looked soft and inviting, but I had never really felt it before. Well, until a few moments ago. I shook my head, trying to force those thoughts out of my head. No Thinking! I ordered myself.

'_If you don't think, you don't truly live', _an unwelcome voice said to me.

I grinned slightly to myself. 'Back again? And I'm not even in danger this time,' I thought, thinking of the last time I had spoken, or whatever it was we were doing, with the Voice.

'_You had been doing a fine job, Maximum. Today was misguided, and poorly planned,' _the Voice thought back.

I stopped for a second, considering my answer. 'How so?' I mentally asked, making sure to keep my mouth closed, this was a mental conversation.

'_You tested the patience of five unstable erasers, all of whom held guns to you. Need you ask me again where you were misguided?' _I felt like I had been slapped.

'I'm fine, aren't I?' I asked, resenting Jeb for making me feel stupid, as he often did.

'_Had you done one thing differently, you wouldn't have been. Training had nothing to do with it, you got lucky today. And even with luck not all things can go as planned.' _

'Well if you have such a great idea on what to do, please, enlighten me Oh- Brilliant- One,' I mentally sneered. It had been a while since I got angry with the Voice; we had been getting along fairly well. Now he had to go and ruin it.

I waiting for a reply, and received none. Shocking. I lowered my eyebrows in frustration at the Voice's ridiculous antics. Looking around into the darkness, I was relieved that Nudge was watching with me. Had anybody tried to sneak up on us, they would have succeeded whilst I was arguing with the Voice.

Biting back my bitterness, I looked up to the stars. Their position in the sky put the time at around 5:30. "Doing ok, Nudge?" I asked.

She nodded vigorously and opened her mouth. I saw her chest swell, she had just taken a deep breath, and I prepared for the Nudge Channel. Instead, she simply said, "I'm perfectly fine."

I blinked in surprise. Two watches in a row Nudge had refrained from talking excessively, slowly; I felt a grin spread across my face. Nudge really wanted to take a watch.

"You really want to take one of these watches, don't you?" I asked her.

She looked away, and nodded. Then she stood up and got a few more pieces of wood that we had collected and threw them into the fire. The fire began crackling once more.

"Why?" I asked plainly. What appeal would staying up later and getting less sleep, to sit up uncomfortably, listening for things that may or may not be there hold?

She again kept her gaze from meeting mine. "You, Fang, and Iggy all get to take one," she stated. There was a pause where I was questioning what she meant, and she was trying to tell me without words. She sighed again, "You guys are all older," again she paused. My eyebrows furrowed in concentration. What did she mean? Letting her head fall back, she looked up at the stars. "Max, you don't always know what to do, but you always pretend you do to keep us calm. You make sure we have food, the best you can find for shelter, and you make sure we have everything we need. You keep us safe. I want to… I want to… it would be nice… I want Angel and Gazzy to look up to me like they do to you. I want to help make important decisions, I want everyone to respect me as much as they do you!" she finished.

I was sure my eyes were as wide as saucers. I shook my head, "Nudge, I… I," I stopped to take a deep breath. Oh G-d, more emotions, "People do respect you. I do try my hardest to keep you all safe, but… Nudge you don't want that," I shuddered. I had spent the last 12 years of my life trying to protect Nudge, from the time she was a baby, and I would never, never let her take my spot.

Always trying to act like everything is ok, act like you know what you are doing, that is hard, sure, but it is nothing compared to the constant worry that something my happen to those you dedicated your life to protecting.

She looked at me then, "You don't know what I want," she muttered angrily.

"Nudge, they do look up to you. If you were to wake them up right now and tell them to run, they would," I said, coming up with the best example I could.

She dropped her gaze to her lap, "But if you told them not to, they would stop in their tracks."

"I raised them. You were only learning to walk when they were born; I already knew that stuff, so I taught them. They only listen to me like that because I raised them."

"You don't get it! I am just Nudge! Just Nudge the talkoholic who can't shut her mouth, who is alive only because Maximum Ride keeps her safe and protects her! I would be dead without you, Max. We all would be; I just want to be as… as strong as you, as smart as you, just to be as good as you!" she said, raising her voice only slightly.

I swallowed deeply, feeling a little lump in my throat. "You are not just Nudge. You have saved me too. Without you, I would have died several times over. You are one of the reasons I never give up. No matter what, Gazzy, Angel, Fang, Iggy, You, and heck even Total, are my reasons to keep fighting. You keep me alive, you keep me human, Nudge. If I ever hear you say you are just Nudge again," I stopped abruptly, having to swallow a few times to clear my throat of the ever growing lump. "Nudge, you have saved me too."

She was still looking at her lap. "You don't have to lie to make me feel better," she murmured.

I shook my head, "I'm not lying to you Nudge."

"When would you have died then, give me one example of how _I_ saved _you_," she asked bitterly.

"Today, when all those Erasers were shooting at me, trying to make me dance. I couldn't give up because I knew you would miss me. You could live without me, you would do fine, but you would miss me. You don't need me, but I _depend_ you, all of you," I said, really having to swallow hard to clear the knob in my throat. Nudge couldn't really think that we didn't respect her, could she?

She looked up, finally meeting my gaze, and I saw her eyes were sparkling with tears. "Do you really need me?" she asked.

I nodded, gasping for breath, and said, "More than you know." And the next thing I knew she was lunging at me, hugging me close to her. I need my whole flock, every single one of them. Even if my heart would keep beating without them, I would still die. The pain it caused me to even think about if my flock wasn't with me proved that.

"Thank you," she whispered against my neck. I nodded vigorously, not trusting myself to open my mouth and not sob, and blinked rapidly, clearing my eyes.

A moment after she let go of me, I took a deep breath and looked up at the sky again. About time for Iggy's watch.

"Wanna wake up Iggy?" I asked her, making sure my voice stayed steady. She wiped her nose and got up one more last time to throw a bit more wood on the fire and wake up Iggy.

I took one more deep breath before I began to stretch, forgetting about Fang. As soon as I tensed up, stretching, his body tensed too, and his eyes shot open. He blinked several times before focusing on my face. He rolled his neck, and I heard it crack several times before he lifted his head off my lap. He rolled to his side, and then scooted over a little more to make room for me. I looked to where Iggy had laid, and saw that Nudge had taken his place. Nodding, I was satisfied that everyone had a place to sleep.

I lay down next to Fang, with Angel on my other side, and lifted my head to find Iggy. He was sitting on the ground a few feet from us, "Iggy, wake us up whenever you feel like getting breakfast going," I said, deciding to let everyone sleep in a little. He nodded in my direction, looking a tad shocked, but not saying anything.

When I woke up the next morning, the first thing I noticed that Nudge was awake and trying to help Iggy cook breakfast. Turns out, she isn't much better than me. The next thing I noticed was the warm breath on the back of my neck. Fang.

I sat up and studied Nudge's face, wondering if she may still be thinking she was 'just Nudge'. She sent me an enormous grin, and I was fairly certain she wasn't faking it. She really was happy, and not faking it happy, but truly happy. She took what I said last night to heart. Good.

Looking around at my flock, they looked happy. Every single one of them looked like they were happy, looked like they were fully fed every day, not cooking half of what they should be eating over a fire. And when my flock was happy, so was I, however fleeting it may be.

**A/N Ok, not much happens in this chapter, other than the Nudge/Max talk. And that is important. Ok fine, this was basically a filler chapter, that had a bit of character development in it. You caught me. **

**No one guessed the line from Fight Club (great movie, btw). It was when the erasers asked max if she understood and she said, "Yes. Oh shit, I just lost it,". Tyler Durden says that when he is getting beaten up by Lou. If you havent seen the movie, and you like action movies, i suggest it. **

**Next, sorry this took longer than usual to update, but its been a crazy week. This is another one of my weeks where I cant sleep for my life, which makes my vision foggy. Today is my Dad's birthday. I have my first ever job interview today, wish me luck. And, my baby cousin was born! Welcome Maria Sophia!!!!**

**A reply to some of my annomus reviewers (skip if you dont care, or you didnt annomusly review)**

**-ninja freak- Max didn't break her leg there, what that was was when she broke it a few months back. There would still, and always will be, a crack in her bone where it it weaker. That was just the pain from the bones crack, if that makes any sense. Thank you!**

**-Person Who Loves This Story- I would too, but at the same time you have to remember that Max was raised thinking that guns were for bad people only, and taht only bad people used them. So that woudl scure her pov a little, i think. And you dont sound evil, not to me as i am a cold hearted bitch and will admit it. I was told yesterday that i have no heart... by a 6 year old...**

**-Billy- Thanks, and dont be shy. And dont be jealous either... writing is the only thing i am half good at, i have no talent in any other area. thanks for the review!**

**-SWIM FISHY SWIM- i dont think that is from a movie... if it is, i have never seen that movie. No, the part from a movie was mentioned above, not the feet shooting thing. And i am glad that i was able to do this good enough to get you that emotional. You think it is cute too? Thanks!**

**-jealous- if you want to try and write agian, send it to me and i can help you, if you want. and thanks for the novel comment, i may get around to it one day, even tho i dont want to be an author, as a career.**

**-awesomeness- i dont want to die either, not right now anyhow. im still a bit young to go 6 ft under. so yes, i agree. but i still think i would feel somewhat guilty. Thanks!**

**-faxgunsfaxgunsfaxguns- Dont worry, a Smith and Wesson will come into the story eventually... perhaps a Smith & Wesson Model 500 .50-Cal. Magnum. what do you think about that gun? thanks for the reivew!**

**-Amatuer Gun Expert- Are you saying that there is no way to keep it accurate and put it in a backpack? Could you sign in under a username so we could talk... stratgy without everyone seeing it to be broadcasted? I would really appreciate that! (just put in the PM or Review or whatever that you are 'amatuer gun expert') Thanks if you decided to, if not thanks for the review!**

**-I dont has anger issue- Fine... i guess i will take off the review limit. See how it goes, you know?**

**I am taking off the review limit, so please reivew if you want to not have reveiw ransom anymore. Ok, thanks! You will be happy, I promise! This chapter was edited by both Miromyth, and Miz636. So, thank them, and go read Miz's story, Old and New Collide. You wont be sorry!**


	35. Ruger SR9

Chapter 34

Max's pov 

When Iggy dished out the breakfast, I whispered, "just a little for me," barely moving my lips. He froze, and 'looked' at me wide eyed. "I'm going to have more fruit," I finished, feeling all too aware of my aching jaw. He 'eyed' me for only a moment longer, and then sat down to eat.

I got up and walked to Nudges backpack, grabbed some fruit, and went to sit back down. Gazzy noticed, but everyone was pretty engrossed in their food. Other than Fang. He hadn't taken his eyes off of me since we woke up, and I was using every ounce of self control I had in me not to strangle him. Everyone had their own conversations going on while they ate.

When everyone had finished chowing down, I made one of my famous leader decisions. "Put out the fire, while I go get more water, and when I get back we need to get a move on. We have to cover some distance today, actually lots of distance," I declared.

"Are we going back to Akiela?" Total asked, ears perked up high. I shook my head.

"Not yet."

His ears fell in disappointment. Iggy was standing up, stretching, and Gazzy was following his lead. I quickly kicked over the fire and poured the water that was left over it. Then, grabbing my backpack, I stuffed all of the empty water bottles into it. Total's water bottle was… oddly shaped. It was very shallow, but bigger around. We told him it was because they didn't have any more normal ones, and that he drank less than us so he could use it. All of us knew it was easier for him, even if he wouldn't admit it.

I took one more look at my flock before I turned to walk where Fang and I had found the little stream the night before. I heard a very faint crunching behind me and smirked.

"You've lost your touch," I said, knowing that Fang was trailing me. A moment later the crunching grew more agitated, Fang was picking up the pace. I slowed down, giving him a chance to catch up to me. I felt his arms wrap around my waist and when I turned my head, I saw nothing.

I narrowed my eyes. "Who's losing their touch?" he whispered in my ear, tightening his arms. Despite the fact that the heat Fang carried with him was wrapped around me, I shivered.

My eyes drifted shut, and I turned my head to where I had heard his voice. I fought off the fog that was engulfing all lucid thought, and tried to think of a way to make him lose his focus. He had gotten very good at staying blended in with his surroundings, but if he lost focus, he lost the veil of disillusionment.

"I certainly haven't," I replied, carefully mapping out where his arms were, and placed my hand on what I estimated to be his forearm. Guardedly, I ran my fingers up and down gently.

Suddenly, I could see him in full. As soon as I had finished speaking, the edges of his arms blurred, and then he was no longer blending in.

Before I had a chance to rub my victory in, he had grabbed my upper arms and turned me around. I was smirking slightly while enjoying the warmth that was spreading through me.

I blinked, and when I opened my eyes again, he was nearly nose to nose with me. His eyes seemed somehow darker, and I had to resist the impulse to stroke his cheek, battered as it was.

"You don't know how bad I want to kiss you," Fang said, quiet and rough, his voice hoarse. I again had to beat down my impulse, this time the one that wanted me to grin.

"Do it," I whispered back, surprising myself.

Instead he released my arm and brought his fingers to my lips. He stroked them gently with his thumbs and quietly whispered, "If we don't go to get water right now, we aren't going to get it at all."

My breath snagged in my throat, and I nearly started choking. On what, I don't know. I didn't have much experience with flirting, but something told me this was a whole new dimension. I blinked several times, and nodded.

"Ok, let's go," I said. My voice was barely recognizable, I had been talking funny since I got hit because my face was so swollen, but now my voice sounded deeper, and shaky. None of those things were a common appearance in my voice.

He took his hands off me, and I felt disappointment well up in me before I had a chance to shoot it down. We set off at a brisk pace; making up for the time that had already passed.

After we got to the water I slid the backpack off my shoulders. Just before I dipped the first water bottle into the water, I saw my reflection.

I grimaced at the horrid black color that emanated from both cheeks. The whole lower part of my face seemed to have been shaved of the first few layers of skin. My lips and nose were bruised nearly as bad; in the corner of my lips a bruise had formed. My eyes were puffy, nearly swollen shut and both were black, and my forehead had a gash across it that I didn't remember getting. To sum it up, I looked bad.

I broke the surface of the water with the bottle, angrily destroying the image of someone who already looked as if she had been destroyed. She hadn't been.

Fang set his hand on my shoulder, and passed me another water bottle. I turned my face away from him, not knowing how he could even look at me when I looked like this. Granted, I was no looker when my face looked normal, but with it bruised and beaten, I looked like a monster. He took the filled bottle and dropped a few drops of iodine into it before handing me a new bottle to fill.

By the time we were done, I was so angry that I wanted to scream. No one had mentioned that my face looked like an ogre's. Now, I'm not vain, but I would like to be able to walk down the road without getting stares of disgust. That wouldn't be happening any time soon.

"When we get back we have to call my mom," I muttered, still careful to keep my face away from Fangs. "Then we'll leave."

He nodded and grabbed my hand after throwing the backpack over his shoulder. We walked back in silence while I was careful to keep my face turned away. When we got back, he dropped my hand and the pack. I dropped to my knees and ruffled through it, keeping my face buried, and tried to find the cell phone. I know, brilliant idea to put the water and cell phone together.

When I finally found the phone, I made a shushing noise to the flock, and walked slightly into the woods to talk. Basically, I wanted them to know I was leaving, without telling them I was calling her.

It didn't finish the first ring before a calm voice answered.

"Hey mom," I responded.

Instantly, the calm demeanor vanished. "Oh thank the Lord! Are all of you ok?" my Mother asked.

Feeling better at the sound of her voice, worried as it was, I responded, "Yeah, we're all fine. We gotta be a bit more careful next time but…."

"I was hoping you were all right. Ella and I were so worried! Why didn't you call last night?" she asked, trying to sound angry but failing entirely.

"It was a long night. We did a lot of flying. But we're all fine," I reassured her.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

I paused briefly. Taking a deep breath, I decided to give her the edited version. "We set it all up in a field, when they got there; they found the bombs we had. A few didn't get blown up, but I took care of them," I said, feeling slightly sick again realizing that I was saying 'take care of them' like Itex said 'retire'. I was playing death off to be nothing.

"Liar," she stated.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, playing stupid, wondering how much she would be able to tell only by my voice.

"You obviously haven't turned on a TV. It's all over the news, the fugitives that blew up the law enforcement that was able to track them down. The leader of the 'gang' was cornered by 4 men. They nearly won until she pulled out a hidden gun. What really happened?" she asked, first accusing, and then sounding vividly worried.

"Nothing that hasn't happened before," I answered, angry with the news for not even investigating. If they had, they would realize that the Erasers weren't part of law enforcement. They were the School's vigilant killers.

"Now you're worrying me. What happened, Max?"

"There were nine, not four. I didn't pull a gun from nowhere, I grabbed one of theirs. And they never nearly won. They never had a chance," I said, knowing I was lying. From start until just before finish they were only inches from winning. But I was sure my mom didn't want to hear that any more than I wanted to say it, so I kept that to myself.

"Nine?! Max, why were you off by yourself during one of these anyway?" She prodded; still sounding unconvinced that I was telling the whole truth.

I ignored the question. "I picked a Glock up off of one of them. Is it worth keeping?"

"They are powerful enough, but not as reliable as some. It depends on the model. Is that still on the gun somewhere?" she asked, going from worried Mom to the gun expert she is.

I tried to remember the gun. I had studied it over last night, testing its weight in my hand. I remembered a few numbers on it. "Ahh," I started before closing my eyes and thinking hard. "I believe that it was a Glock 23. Don't know much else."

"Hum, well I'm a bit surprised they were carrying that particular gun. It's more of a self defense gun," she continued after not getting any response from me, "Although I guess it goes better with the Law Enforcement charade they are trying to pull off. Quite a few Cops carry that gun. Its magazine is too small for you though, only eight bullets" she finished. I nearly snorted. Self defense.

Erasers were interested in anything but self defense, they wanted to hurt others, not protect themselves.

"Huh," I quite intelligently replied.

"Max, have you shot your gun yet?" she asked, her tone changing to one of fact to anxious.

"Nope, we didn't need it yesterday," I replied, knowing full well I wouldn't look like this if we didn't need it.

"Liar," she stated again, but didn't push. "I think that your gun might be… well I think I cut it too far."

"What d'ya mean?"

"I think I may have really messed up the accuracy when I was cutting it. I didn't, well, I didn't even think about it until last night when I was getting rid of the barrel before we went to the den."

"I'll grab another Glock next time," I said, nearly shrugging before I remembered she couldn't see me.

There was a pause before I heard her sigh. "Max, can you do me a favor? Please don't let there be a next time until you get another gun." Neither of us spoke for a moment.

"Mom, we can't just… stop these. The whole point was to scare them, and if we stop now to rest, they will re-build themselves. We'll be fine, trust me," I tried to reassure her. I knew she was worried about me, but there wasn't very much I could do other than go out and buy another gun. That wasn't really much of an option right now with how we supposedly just took out a whole legion of Government employees.

"Alright," she whispered.

Shaking my head at myself, I groaned. "How bad is the guns aim, exactly?"

"Well, you may end up shooting a target 5 feet to either side of what you are aiming for. It is unreliable, we never should have cut it that much," she said, sounding peeved with herself.

Five feet?! That was enough to get us killed. I nearly smacked my forehead. "So what do you think we should do?" I asked, knowing the suggestion already.

"Well, if you would like, you can come back here for a little while until we figure it out," she started.

"No," I responded, not coldly, only matter of factly.

"Ok, then you will have to get a new gun," she started apprehensively.

"So I should just walk into a hunting store and buy a new rifle?" I asked, not fully managing to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. Right now, there was no way anyone would sell me a gun, for several reasons; I am too young; I am being made out to be a murderous raving psycho; and well, I just couldn't walk into a town to buy anything.

"Well, I think a rifle or shotgun is out, because we can't cut them down like that again. So, basically your only option is a handgun."

"And whose name do I register it under?" I asked, still not fully convinced. I was half a country away from her, so my Mother couldn't buy the gun like last time. I would have to, and being that I was officially never born, that will be difficult. I sighed, feeling stupid for ruining the first gun.

"Well… you won't have to register it," she muttered. "I don't like telling you to do this, but you're going to have to buy it… from the Black Market."

I paused. I knew what a Black Market was, everyone did, but only criminals buy in a criminal market.

"I know what you're thinking, but Max, as far as most of the world is concerned, you are a criminal. No reputable person will sell you a gun, so you're going to have to buy Black Market," she forced out, sounding like she was choking on her words.

I hated the fact that right now numerous people were wishing death upon me, and I knew they were because I had, in their minds, taken away those protecting them. "Fine," I ground out, hating myself.

"You have to let me find a way to get a… a contact. Let me find someone in the Black Market for you to deal with, and then I'll call you," Dr. Martinez said, sounding reluctant.

"No, I can do it. We have to move on, so I'll call you soon. Make sure you tell Ella that we are all fine, ok?" I confirmed, standing up.

We said our goodbyes, and I walked back to where we had camped for the night. Everyone was ready to go when I walked back to them. Still being careful to keep my face down, I grabbed my backpack, and the first thing Angel asked me was if my mom was alright. As soon as I confirmed she was, relief broke over Angels face.

Spreading out my wings and taking flight was relaxing, almost making me forget my dilemma of how to get a new gun.

"When we get to the next big city, we are going to stop for a quick rest. Stock up on bomb stuff, that sort of thing," I ordered, thinking that if we were doing another ambush very soon, we needed more bombs. It would be easier to blend in a big city, and I was more likely to find someone to sell me a gun illegally.

"Only if we get food!" Gazzy shouted over the wind, as if I was going to listen to him.

"Well, after that comment… I don't think we'll stop for a while," I said, sounding dead serious. Unfortunately, everyone knew me better than that; they all knew I wouldn't deny them food when they were hungry.

I had a vague plan forming in my mind. A plan I didn't like.

_________________________________________________________

I was walking down the streets of California hour later, thinking about how stupid of a plan this was. Fang and Nudge had stolen a baseball cap for each of us, and a pair of biggest, gaudiest sunglasses for me. Total had to stay in our backpack the whole time and not talk. Nudge and Fang had to stay about 15 feet behind us, not talking to us or looking at us. Angel, Gazzy, Iggy, and I were all staying together (we could pass for cousins, as could Nudge and Fang). If anyone this far away from Wyoming was looking for us, they were looking for six people together. Not two or four.

Los Angeles wasn't what I expected. I was expecting a city filled with hardly disguised thugs. What I got was a relatively normal city, huge, but mostly normal. Ok, there were, of course, the ones wearing all black pants with chains and hoodies despite the 90 degree temperature, or the older people wearing all tie-dye, but there weren't people walking around with guns like I expected.

From all the movies, I was a bit unsure of taking my flock here, but it seemed to be fine. Like New York, you just had to be careful where you went at night. We bought some food from a deli using the Max Ride card, and then headed towards the less grand buildings.

When we got off the main strip, away from all the people, I knew that I had made the right choice of coming here. There were pawn shops, weapons shops, and every other kind of shop that most tourists would ignore. But not us.

I headed right for the dingiest shop that said it sold guns. Turning my head slightly, I checked to make sure Fang and Nudge were still behind us. They were.

None of the kids were talking; they seemed to know that we were here for something important. I had told them that I needed to buy something a bit unusual, but I would tell them later.

I turned to Angel, Gazzy, and Iggy and told them to wait outside. Very few people were on this road. "Keep your heads down; don't look at anyone, at all. Stay here, and don't cause any problems. Iggy, you are in charge," I said. My voice was filled with warning, telling them without saying it that I would have their skin if they drew attention to us.

Angel started to protest, and began picking through my mind. I gave her a look, and shook my head. Her gaze fell to the ground, and I felt her leave my mind. "I promise I will explain later," I muttered to them before I ducked into the shop.

Taking my own advice, I kept my head low. Glancing out the window, I saw Fang and Nudge sitting on a curb, looking somewhat like they fit in with all there torn clothes and fangs cut up face. Iggy was keeping Angel and Gazzy in order. They too were looking inconspicuous and only a little out of place.

I walked straight up to the counter and said in a steady voice, "I would like to buy a gun."

I got no response, and chanced a look up. It was a woman behind the counter, which for some reason I didn't expect. She had a hardened look about her, and her eyes were a beady black. As I was looking at her, she said, "I can't help you." She turned away.

I'm sure if she would have been able to see my face she would have seen the shock on it.

"You don't understand, I have to buy a gun," I said, reminding myself that this was all an act. Grabbing her by the collar of her shirt and screaming wouldn't do me any good, I had to play nice.

"No you don't understand. Do you have a license to carry?" she asked, sounding like she already knew the answer.

I shook my head wondering how I was going to pull this off now.

"If you register today, it will take about a month, assuming you have nothing on your record that should stop you from buying one," she peered at me, trying to look past the black sunglasses to my eyes.

Suddenly I got an idea. It was risky, I could get us all caught with it, but right now it seemed like my last hope.

Slowly I brought my hands up to my sunglasses and pulled them off, keeping my face low for dramatic effect. As I pulled of the hat, I laced my voice with apprehensiveness. "I wont make it another month," and looked up to meet her eyes.

For the first time since I had been in here, her face showed emotion. She looked shocked and scared. "I don't know what you are involved with, girl, but please leave my store," she forced out between her shallow breaths. "I don't want whoever gave you those to find me."

My first thought was that she was a coward. Then I realized that maybe, just maybe, Los Angeles wasn't the picturesque place it seemed to be. Maybe there were gangs here, like in all the movies. Maybe she was trying to protect herself or her family even. If she thought I was part of a gang, and she gave me a gun, she would be supplying my side with weapons. That could definitely get her into trouble.

My brain worked at the speed of light, weaving lies like I had been taught. "I think he is going to kill me! My," I sniffled, doing my best to bring tears to my eyes, "My boyfriend! I broke up with him and he… he isn't happy. He found me last night," by now I had some pretty convincing tears in my eyes, I was sure of it. I took a shuddering breath, the whole time thinking of the details she could ask me.

She said nothing. When I looked up, she wasn't there. Panic shot through me, maybe she had recognized me! I turned and was just about to run when she called, "Wait!"

I pivoted back around, facing the counter again, and saw the woman holding out a gun. "It's a Ruger SR9," she pressed something, and the clip fell out of the gun handle. She slid a new one, bigger into it. "This magazine holds 18 rounds. 9mm. If you pay in cash, and you 'forget' where you bought this, it's yours," she finished. She was studying me; I could see it in her eyes.

I tried to let relief break over my face gradually, like I was accepting this. She apparently bought it, because she said, "Fifteen hundred. You'll get the larger 18 round magazine, and 5 boxes of bullets."

I had been expecting a more expensive deal, so I had almost two thousand dollars cash. It made me jumpy to have so much money at once and I had had to stop at every ATM on the way her and take out the maximum it would let me, 200 dollars per machine.

I made sure to keep the money out of her sight; I didn't want her to know how much I really had. I gave her the 1,500 dollars, and then handed an extra 50. She counted it, and started to hand back the fifty dollar bill. I shook my head. "No, you may have just saved my life," I said, still doing my best to look scared yet defiant.

She slowly nodded, and turned around, walking back into what could only be the back room. I picked up my hat and sunglasses from the counter, put them on, and walked back out into the streets. Fang and Nudge still had their head resting on their knees, but I could see Nudge looking at me. Iggy looked over at the sound of my footfall and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Got whatever you needed?" he asked. I could tell he was hurt, not knowing what was going on when it was clear Fang did, but you could also hear that he accepted it. That is what really bothered me.

"Yup. Now we are gonna buy some more food, get a hotel for the night, and take off. We can't stay at the hotel. I think that if this card is monitored, Itex may be suspicious that I took out so much at once. So we are just gonna throw them off, and get out of here," I said, loud enough that Fang and Nudge could hear us from as far back as they were. If any of the few people back here heard us, they would probably just think we were a bunch of crazies, which we kinda are.

Within an hour, we were off again, flying over the desert that seemed to take over most of Southern California.

We landed just over an hour away, in the rare shade of trees. As soon as we landed, Nudge bombarded me with questions about what I had bought. Angel piped in too, adding that it wasn't fair to tell Fang and not her.

I resisted the urge to tell her life isn't fair, and held up my hand. "I'll tell you in two seconds. Tomorrow we have to do another ambush. As soon as we work out the final plans of that, I'll tell you," I said. I was being a little manipulative, I knew they would think harder, and plan better if they had something to look forward too when they got done.

Gazzy and Iggy set to work on making new remote activated bombs while we planned. As soon as the final details were worked out, I took a deep breath and began to tell them why we went to that run down store in Los Angeles, California.

**A/N Sorry for the long wait on this chapter, I can't really say I was busy... just uninspired. Good news, I planned out a GREAT action scene that will be happening... well soon enough. So next, be happy that I didnt like, kill off Max and Fang becasue I was so angry, ok? I love to decorate cakes, and I spent 9 hours decorating my birthday cake, and the next morning when I woke up, it was destroyed. It looked like someone shoved their hand into it and ripped out a piece. That someone is my dad (long story, but I just know). I was so angry I was trying to find an alibi so I could murder him (not really). That was yesterday. Lastly, today is my birthday. My sweet sixteen. My mom and Dad are both working, my sister is going to Cincinnati for a tennis game thats going on, and I will be home alone until around 11 o'clock tonight. I get to make my own b-day cake and dinner. Great. I hate birthdays. **

**On a happy note, I had to switch the gun from the shotgun becasue I got many notices that that gun wouldnt fire accuratly. So SASBlackHawk helped me find the perfect gun for the Flock. After many atttempts on my part of choosing one (every one of which wouldnt have worked well for them) he suggested this. So thank him, and if you want i'll tell you why this is such a great gun. **

**Miromyth edited this chpater, so thank her for the great grammer. Thanks Miromyth!**

**Still no limit, although I was right. It took me 2 weeks to get the same amount of reviews as it took in 4 days when I had a limit. So please, for my birthday, my not so sweet sixteen, review?**


	36. Irony

**Irony**

Max's pov

Everyone remained sitting expectantly, wanting to know why I flew them across two states, to go into a store that I couldn't even remember the name of.

I took a deep breath and glanced at Fang, who was sitting next to me. He was looking at the faces of each member of the flock, paying me no attention other than holding my hand. His eyes flicked at me when I breathed deeply, and he began stroking my hand with his thumb.

I took this as my cue to start. "First off, you can't be mad at Fang. This was all me," I started, technically, I wanted to tell them and he convinced me otherwise, but they didn't need to know that. I looked into everyone's eyes, to make sure they understood that this was all on me. Everyone but Iggy nodded. I figured he wouldn't agree to anything until he knew what it was. Smart of him. "We learned how to shoot a gun. Both of us did. We bought a gun. It's only for emergencies though," I said, figuring I would explain what I had to when I got questions. There was a silence for a minute before Angel faces scrunched up.

"But Max, you hate guns," she said, sounding like she was questioning that.

I nodded. "I don't really think they're fair, no. That's why it's for emergencies only. We're never going back to that school, and if that means me having to use a gun, then I will," I said, trying to sound upbeat, like I really didn't hate shooting it.

"So you've got bullets then? And gunpowder?" Gazzy asked, not seeming to have a problem with it. If Gazzy got a hold of that gunpowder… well let's just say there would be a new kind of bomb. Like atomic bomb powerful. Not good.

"None of you are going to touch that gun, or the bullets," I looked to Gazzy here, knowing my gaze would be lost on Iggy. His grin turned to a frown, before it turned angry.

Iggy and Nudge exploded first, before Gazzy fully understood what I had meant.

Nudge was the loudest. "Why can't we use it too, Max?! Do you think we're too young?! Or do you just not trust us to not shoot each other?!" she screamed.

I yanked my hand out of Fangs grasp and held it up, telling them to calm down. Shaking my head, I started, "You're not too young. Age really has nothing to do with it. This gun is dangerous. If one of you got hurt… I'd never forgive myself. If I do it I don't have to worry about hurting you guys," I finished.

Nudge was standing by this point, and she glowered at me. "Yeah, I bet! And why didn't you tell us about it, if that really is why?!" Nudge exclaimed, sounding bitterly angry.

I didn't hesitate before I responded, "I didn't tell you before because I want you to fight your hardest, and not depend on being able to use that gun. You fight harder if you think there is no alternative. I need you guys fighting like that all the time," I was choosing my words as quickly and carefully as I could while speaking as rapidly as I was. I didn't want to say the wrong thing and upset them more.

Angel remained calm throughout the whole speech and didn't seem to have a problem with us having the gun. Perhaps that was because she had known, or because she saw the reasoning in my head. Either was equally likely.

"But Fang gets to use it too!" Gazzy shouted. I nearly winced. He had a point, but it's not like I could detour Fang from learning if I tried.

"Fang doesn't count," I said hoping they would listen to me because I was using my confident leader voice.

"Why? Because you go off in the woods and do God knows what with him?" Iggy sneered. "But we all know why I can't shoot the damned thing!"

"Language Iggy," I reflexively said before comprehending what he said. When I did, I scowled too. "And no, that's not why Fang doesn't count. He doesn't count because I need one person in each room to be able to shoot, and if girls and guys stay separate then I won't be there with you to protect your sorry butt!" I vehemently said. Honestly, he doesn't count because I don't care what I said or did, if I was learning to shoot, he would too. You can't force him to do anything, ever. But I didn't want to say that to the kids, or they may get some not so bright ideas.

Angel cocked her head to the side, and just as she did, I became aware of her presence in my head. For once, I didn't scold her. If that was what I took to convince her that I really was only doing this for their safety, then I would deal. I wanted at least one flock member on my side.

As soon as I put my hand back to my side, Fang grabbed it and began stroking it again with his thumb. This one simple gesture calmed me down, slightly.

I took several deep breaths, and looked into the eyes of each of the flock that were angry with me. Nudge and Iggy glared hardest. Gazzy seemed to be calming down a bit, realizing my logic.

"Let me just ask you one thing Iggy," I paused, giving him a chance to object. When he didn't, I plowed on, "If I had told you the day we decided to buy this gun, would you still be angry?" I knew he wasn't angry with me about not being able to shoot it, he knew why he couldn't. He was angry with the Whitecoats for taking away his eyesight, and with me for not telling him so he at least knew.

He sneered at me again, but didn't reply.

I thought I knew how Nudge was feeling too. I had been giving her jobs that normally Fang or I did, and giving her a watch, so she felt like part of the older crowd. Now all the sudden I was putting her with Gazzy and Angel again (although technically Iggy was there too) and she didn't know why. That would have made me angry too. "And Nudge," I paused giving her a chance to protest too. When she didn't, I continued, just as I had with Iggy. "Are you mad because I have a gun, because you can't shoot it, or because I didn't tell you?" I asked.

She didn't stop to think before she blurted out her answer. "Does it matter why I'm mad?! I'm just a little kid who can't do anything by herself!"

"Yes Nudge," I said, angry that she was acting so childish, acting out her words when we all knew she was far from a child. "You are such a little kid that you get to take a watch, that you get to come with me to face a hundred bloodthirsty erasers head on. You are such a little kid that in Germany you were watching both Angel's and my back while taking down mutants by the dozen. You are such a little kid that you can walk into hell itself without hesitation. That is how much of a little kid you are," I finished, hoping that I made my point. I really hated all this, talking about how I really feel, deep in the recesses of my mind. It made me feel vulnerable, not to mention uncomfortable.

By the end of my speech her face had softened slightly. Then it re-hardened. "Then why can't I shoot it too?" This time she spoke in her normal volume, but without the usual chipper-ness.

I paused for a split second before I answered, "I don't want any of you to deal with that. I would never have guessed it, but," I paused here, not sure if I wanted to continue. The flock needed to be content with each other tomorrow, or we would be jeopardizing our lives doing an ambush. We couldn't be angry with each other, or tense. So I forced the words from my mouth, "There is a difference between knocking an eraser out of the air and letting them fall to their deaths, or blowing them up. When you shoot them… you feel like you killed them. You get to watch the life leaving the eyes; you get to see how their breathing stops, and how they stop struggling. You have just killed someone, and you feel guilt. More guilt than I want you guys to ever have to feel."

No one said a word.

"But Max, they are just erasers," Gazzy finally said. I raised my eyebrows in disbelief.

"You think that changes how you feel? It doesn't," I replied, with so much passion in my voice I was sure someone would start puking at this emotion fest. Several moments went by before anyone said anything again.

"So we're staying here for the night?" Nudge questioned.

I nodded. "Iggy, come get wood?" I asked him. His eyes opened a bit wider, and he nodded. I looked to Fang, and the corners of his lips twitched. Whether he was about to frown or smile was beyond me.

I got up and reached my hand down to Iggy to pull him up. His lap had a few spare wires in it still, from when he was making bombs while we planned the next ambush. I brushed my hands together so Iggy would know they were there and he reached up for them, fumbling only a second on empty air.

We walked into the sparse woods, and I wasn't very please to find that the only wood was bone dry. Dead wood is great for starting fires, but burns too quickly to be good for keeping a fire all night. As I was collecting wood, I was handing it to Iggy to carry until his arms were full. Then I would fill mine.

"So, are you still ticked at me?" I asked him.

"If you would have just told me to begin with," he bitterly trailed off.

"If I had told you right when we decided to buy a gun, you would still have been angry. You would have asked if you could shoot it, and I would have said no then. You still would have been angry," I stated.

He frowned. "I'm not really mad at you. I'm just mad at… just mad. No one in particular. You still should have told me, whether I would have been mad or not," Iggy said, still sounding a little bitter.

Pyro-boy sure knew how to make you feel guilty. As if I needed more guilt on my shoulders right now.

"You know I've shot a gun before," he said after a moment.

"What?" I asked sharply. The school wouldn't have given him one to shoot, so he had shot one under my watch. It's not that I don't trust Iggy; I just knew how reckless he got when he was feeling bitter about his eyes. I couldn't blame him one bit, but that didn't mean I could just ignore the facts.

"When you were in Germany and we were trying to fly over there. We got jumped in the airport and the flyboys had guns. We had to use 'em or we would have gotten blow to pieces," he said.

My eyes widened. Fang let Gazzy and Iggy have guns? Automatic guns? What was he thinking?!

Iggy smirked. "Not mad at Fang are you?" he asked haughtily.

I gritted my teeth. "Why would I be mad at Fang?" I asked.

He didn't answer my question, instead he said, "I have a feeling that it's going to be very cold tonight."

I raised my eyebrows at the sudden change of topic.

"Give me a few more pieces and I'll head back. I'll send someone else out to get more while you collect it in a pile. Sound good?" Iggy asked.

I nodded, still puzzled over the change of topic. He walked off to the nearly silent sound of the flock jabbering.

The loud cracking of me breaking the dead branches pierced the desert quiet periodically. I was bent over when I sensed rather than felt a presence behind me. I straightened up and turned around to see Fang standing with his hands in his pockets looking at me curiously.

I rolled my eyes. "It went fine, Fang. How're things back at camp?"

He shrugged. "They aren't planning mutiny," he said. He grabbed the branch that I had been struggling to break and dragged it over to a tree. The tree had a V shape where two big branches met, and he heaved the dead branch into the V. Then he pushed it until it groaned and finally cracked. The broken piece fell to the other side of the tree, and I added it the growing pile that needed to be hauled back.

I shook my head. Sometimes he made me feel so stupid. Here I was struggling with that branch and he just grabs it and breaks it. Fang was smart, like not math smart, or reading smart, but street smart. He knew how to carry himself in difficult situations, and he knew how to solve problems. Such as breaking a branch.

After that branch was broke, he grabbed a few more that I had abandoned because I couldn't break them; he broke them into pieces small enough that you could make a fire with it and none would be sticking out far enough for someone to trip over it in the dark.

I continued collecting wood until we had a pile big enough to last the night and some for the morning.

"Here, stack the wood on my arms, and we can head back," I said, holding my arms straight out so he could pile wood on until I couldn't hold any more.

He shook his head, "How 'bout we just wait out here a few?"

I laughed nervously, "Sure. Let's give them a chance to plan revolt," I said. The tone of his voice told me he didn't just want to sit down and admire the wood.

He narrowed his eyes. "Something tells me what you said about guilt you didn't just pull out of your butt," he muttered, kicking the dirt around with the tip of his shoes.

I didn't say anything. We already had this conversation. I was feeling less guilty now, but for some reason it seemed wrong to me to shoot that eraser that was on his knees. It seemed low and… wrong. I knew they wouldn't have hesitated to shoot me or my family, but I still felt guilty.

"We have lived our whole lives being hunted. This last year or so we have never been safe, even when we felt secure. Itex is hunting us; big corporations want to sell us as weapons for god's sake! Getting rid of Itex will stop that. If you can get rid of the biggest, most powerful threat, why would the little guys come back? In two months, we won't have to look over our shoulders, Max," He said. I had heard Fang rant maybe three times in my whole life, and this was one of them. He was just as angry as me that someone thought they had the right to take away our freedom. He wanted to get rid of them, and now that we had, possibly, found a way he was all for it. He wanted nothing to stand in our way, nothing.

"You think I'm stupid for feeling guilty," I stated.

He shook his head. "I think you're _human_ for feeling guilty. The school looks at us like experiments, so when we deal with them we should act like we are. We shouldn't lose our humanity, but we can't let emotions get in the way of what we have to do," he said. I raised my eyebrows. Here was Fang, talking in full and complete sentences about not letting emotions get in the way of what we have to do.

I grinned slightly at the irony. He shoved my shoulder playfully and shook his head. "Ah the irony," I muttered.

Suddenly, his eyes widened and a slight grin reached his lips. He got a slightly deranged look on his face that rested there for a few moments.

"What's wrong, Fang?" I asked slowly. He shook his head again.

"You're brilliant," he slowly declared. My eyes narrowed in confusion. I replayed the conversation in my head, trying to work out where my brilliance would have been recognized.

Suddenly he grabbed my face and pulled my lips towards him. He kissed me very gently, a series of small pecks on my cheeks, before he moved to my lips. I was beginning to feel apprehensive when he finally let go and looked me in the eye.

"Hear me out, okay?" he asked. I could just barely sense the excitement hidden deep in his dark eyes. "The school can't be further than a hundred miles from here, right?" he asked. I was still trying to put two and two together, to figure out what the heck he was thinking.

I shrugged, trying to portray my confusion.

He smiled a tiny bit. "If we were to go to the school tomorrow…" he trailed off. Suddenly I was hit with recognition.

"And wipe out erasers where they used to hold us captive…" I trailed off too, a plan forming in my mind. Originally we were just going to find an area that seemed relatively vacated and set up there before alerting Itex the same way we had last time.

"Talk about irony," Fang said. I grinned for fully for the first time in days, ignoring how badly it stretched my gruesome cuts and bruises.

"It'll definitely make a point," I agreed. I looked at him now, still smiling and for the first time since… since our first kiss, I kissed him.

I slowly leaned in and brushed my nose against his, and pressed my lips to his, only for a second. I pulled away quickly, looking into his eyes. He had closed his eyelids, so I shamelessly admired his face. The scratches that had marred his face yesterday were scabbed over, but I saw other slight imperfections.

Fang had scars all over, all of us did, and his face was no exception. There was a mark above his eyes where he had simply fallen. There were too many scratches from fights with erasers when we were younger to even count. There was a scar from when he was ten years old and decided to use Jeb's razor to shave, before he even knew why people shaved.

But to me, these only added to his character. They made him who he was. If he didn't have all these scars, he wouldn't have had all those horrible experiences. And he if didn't have them, he wouldn't be Fang.

Just as he slowly opened his eyes, I kissed right below his temple, and all the way down to his nose, following the line of one of the scratches. I kissed up the scratch next to it, and back down the one next to that. When I came to the last one, I kissed from the end of the scab to his lips.

A slight smile was on his lips, I could just barely feel the corners lifting up.

"Remind me to come with you to get wood more often," he muttered when I pulled back after a long moment.

I grinned. "Now should we head back?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No. This is our only chance to be… never mind," he said. Sighing, he picked up a piece of wood.

I thought I knew what he was going to say. This was our only chance to be together. Every other time, even though we were with each other, we couldn't be… together. Not like this. I had to be the leader, and he had to be my right hand man. Not my… whatever he was.

I walked over to a tree and leaned against it, looking around. As he gathered wood in his arms, I continued looking around; making it clear that if he wasn't ready to leave, neither was I.

Finally he got the hint. He gave me a look that asked 'Change your mind?'

I nodded. He smirked and dropped the wood. He walked slowly towards me, and when he was only a few inches away he put his arms on either side of my head, leaning on the tree.

"What'cha wanna do?" I asked, feeling strangely nervous. My stomach was feeling fluttery, and I was beginning breath heavier.

"Lem'me think about it," he muttered as he brought his lips closer to mine. He shook his head. "Can't think of anything," he said, pulling away.

I huffed and shoved him back, "Jerk."

He smirked and gave me a look that screamed innocence. Which was total bull crap, of course, because Fang is anything but innocent. He stepped forward, stepping back towards me.

A slight spark seemed to illuminate the air surrounding us, making me want to pull Fang close. My eyes connected with his for barely a millisecond before the spark seemed to gain strength. This time he didn't hesitate before he kissed me.

His hands found my face, touching me so gently that it didn't even hurt me. Or maybe it was just that I didn't feel it, because of the euphoria of kissing Fang. Either was possible.

I brought my hands up his back, running my knuckles over his wings. He ran his tongue over my bottom lip and when I didn't immediately respond, he gently scrapped his teeth along it. My hands found their way to Fangs hair, and I tried to run my fingers through it.

"Oww!" he muttered as my fingers caught the tangles in his hair. We pulled apart of a few seconds while I tried to untangle my fingers from all the knots.

"Sorry," I murmured, freeing one hand and using it to try and free the other. "It's not my fault your hair is too long." We hadn't showered since we left Dr. Martinez's house, nearly a week ago. We have been concerned with not leaving a trail, not making sure we smelled pretty. So, hygine was neglected. And when your hair doesn't get washed for a few days, it snarls and knots, and makes it ever more impossible to manage. I guess this was a sign that we all needed to bathe.

He grinned slightly as we pulled apart a few more inches, me still trying to untangle my hand. I finally got my hand free.

I pulled it in front of me and made a face. There were several pieces of hair wrapped around my fingers. He rubbed his skull. "Next time we go to my mom's, you're getting a haircut," I spoke, shaking my head.

When I looked up to him again, the previous spark had gone. I sighed. Now that we were separated, I felt the dull throbbing in my lip, where it had been split. I rolled my eyes.

"So, should we head back?" I asked. He grumbled something unintelligible before nodding. I thought I knew what he didn't quite say. Now that I knew Fang wanted to kiss me like the kisses that filled the end of romance movies, I suddenly wanted him to. I had never kissed like that before.

The only kisses I had ever shared with anyone were strictly the mouth closed type of kisses. Not the kind where you tended to slobber all over each other. To me, when I thought about that, it seemed gross. But when I thought about that with Fang… somehow it didn't seem so gross.

Fang may or may not have kissed Lissa like that- I tried not to think about it- and if he had, then he seemed to enjoy it, as he wanted to with me too. If he hadn't, then he wanted to try it too.

I shook my head as I turned away from him, still trying to clear my thoughts. I definitely needed to think along a different track before we got back to that clearing. Angel didn't need to know where my mind was right now.

"Okay, let's go," I said once my arms were filled up to where I couldn't take any more wood back or they would rip from their sockets, and my mind was cleared. Mostly.

Fang walked in front of me and somehow even with an armful of heavy wood, he seemed to walk so silently that if you weren't listening for him you would never hear him. I tried to walk as quietly as him, but seemed to do the opposite. I seemed to break every twig and rustle every dead leave on our path as we headed back.

"So tell the kids the new plan when we get back?" he asked after a moment.

"Sure," I responded. A smirk took over my face once again, filling me with the thoughts of the Directors face when she found out that we had taken down another batch of erasers, this time on her grounds. She wouldn't be pleased, that was for sure. I hadn't thought of the Director in a while, I had been concerned with what was going on here and now.

The Voice hadn't been nagging me about saving the world as much, as Jeb seemed to know that I would never succeed in saving anything with Itex constantly chasing me. The Voice had, however, been nagging me about not forgetting my other threats. Omega 2 for example.

It wasn't that I had forgotten about him, I couldn't, but that I hadn't seen him, and I had seen erasers. I would deal with him when I had to, and if worst came to worst I would hope he wasn't bomb proof.

The M-Geeks were not forgotten either. I knew that the Voice told me that Itex wouldn't be sending them after me for a while, as they still had some minor kinks and were very expensive to make. That didn't stop me from worrying about when they would be ready. Until Itex made them perfect, we were going to be hunted by Hellhounds only, erasers.

Flyboys, too, were gone. Because they didn't have the ability to think on their feet, they were easy targets. The weak spot was very easy to access, and had no protection. So, Itex had abandoned them also. I was proud to know that it was my flock that had caused those experiments to be abandoned.

My thought was cut short as we entered the clearing that we were going to be staying in for the night. It wasn't a very clear clearing, there were trees in it, but the thick, full branches overhead stopped us from being seen from overhead, which was rare in the desert.

"Better start more bombs guys, you're going to want them," I said, catching everyone's attention. I normally was the flock's voice of reason, telling them that a hundred bombs weren't necessary to blow up a small building. Now, I wanted to see Itex burn to the ground, I didn't even want ashes to remain. Several faces turned to me. When I had full attention, I explained the new plan.

Gazzy and Iggy set to work immediately, with maniacal grins covering both faces. Nudge was looking ridiculously like Iggy as she leered, lost in her own thought. Angel too seemed happy about the statement that would be made by this.

That night, we all slept uneasily, knowing just how close we were to our old prison. But I know my thoughts were also sweet, knowing that after tomorrow, that prison wouldn't exist anymore, never to house any other experiments. I know I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

**A/N Sorry about the slowness. Week has been kinda busy between birthday lunch with my grandma (who told me my new jeans made me look fat. Thanks G!), meeting my new cousin who will most likely not make it to one years old b/c he was born with prune belly syndrom (I dont really get it, but he is missing some organs and there are no muscles in his stomach to hold stuff where it needs to be. And he needs a new kidney, but he is blood type O, which is rare. Fuckin fantastic), meeting my other new cousin who is healthy and cute for a baby. Also, my birthday party, and of course to top it off, a Baby Shower. And school pictures and registration (we havent started yet). **

**Oh gosh, i could go on but i'll stop here. Anyhow, this is the new chappie. there were a few things i wasnt sure about, but all in all I like it. Tell me what you think of it, please. And thank Miz636 for editing this ASAP by reading and reviewing her story 'old and new collide'. Thanks to Miromyth for for editing also!**

**LAST NOTE (for all of you anyhow) next chapter, or the one after that will be another Ambush. Do you want me to skim over it, and skip past it and then kinda reflect on it a little, or do you want me to go way into depth about it. Keep in mind that it is at the school, so very good opportunity to add memories and and great set up for action. So, tell me what you think,** _SKIM OVER THE AMBUSH OR GO WAY INTO DEPTH ABOUT EVERYTHING IT ENTAILS?!!!!_

**To my annonomus reviewers (I just botched the spelling of 'annonomus')**

- **I cant picture them as actors/actresses. Can you picture max getting on stage to act out some hot/heavy make out scene? With a random guy? I cant. But they are good at slipping into different characters!**

**EdwardFangLover888- As This story goes on they will get more faxy when the flock is around, but for now they arent going to be constantly with each other. I dont want his to turn into some sappy romance story and ruin the action-y plot. So max and fang are going to possibly hold hands around the flock, but no kisses or anything, and they arent going to be irresponsible and just take off all the time to go kiss. Ooc in my book. but when they are already in the woods... well *cough* may as well take advantage of it!**

**Alex- Thanks! There will be action, dont worry!  
**


	37. Empty?

Chapter 36

Fang's pov

The sick feeling had reappeared in my stomach, just as it did every time I returned, or thought of returning, to this Hell. I looked upon what used to be my constraints, holding me in this prison.

None of us really wanted to be here: we all hated returning. But we all knew that once we left, we would feel better than if we hadn't returned. So was swallowed our revulsion and landed just outside the fence.

We sat for a moment before Nudge voiced what we were all thinking. "There aren't any Erasers. I mean, they couldn't know that we were coming, so it's not like they could have them all inside waiting, right?" she asked quietly.

I thought about it. Max and I came to the conclusion at the same time, "It's possible," she said.

Gazzy snarled, "Well it won't matter. We'll still get 'em!" he vowed. He was beginning to fight before the battle even began. I nodded my agreement.

Iggy and Gazzy had taken care of the basement last time we were here, blowing it up. This time, we had a grander scheme planned.

"So how do we get in?" Angel asked, not sounding half as scared as she undoubtedly was. The last time she was here, they nearly killed her off from exhaustion. They wanted to dissect her, and would have, if we hadn't came and got her. And that was just this particular school.

"Guess we've got to fly in," I answered. There would be cameras on the roof, no doubt, but there would be cameras everywhere.

Max nodded. "Put some bombs, and move on. Just put them as we go. By the time they catch us, we have to be on our way out. If we just set off one, the rest will follow. No more School, right?" Max assured, looking to Iggy for confirmation.

He nodded stiffly. "We'd best be fast, he said.

We landed on the roof and immediately fanned out, putting bombs as we went. Every second that we weren't swarmed by Erasers surprised me. All of us were surprised, that was for sure, but none of us slowed to question it.

When nothing happened, we ran to the door that lead to the upper floor of the building. The padlock was rusted through, so I grabbed a rock I had put in my pack before we flew up here and bashed the lock. The lock disintegrated, and I threw the rock back in my pack, sure I would need it again.

We were silent as we streaked through the hallways, not stopping as we carelessly laid bombs in our wake. We didn't look in rooms as we went; this was the beginning of experiments section. Everything here was still in a test tube, or wasn't yet created.

Randomly opening doors and throwing bombs in, I kept alert. The flock stayed together, not wanting to split up here. Every memory was more pungent when we were separated.

When I came to the last door in the hallway, I held up my hand. "Cameras are here," I gestured to the door. This was where the security for the second floor was. There would be a guard, but if we took him out, or if he was dozing and hadn't alerted anyone yet, we may be able to get away unnoticed. For now.

Max nodded, not sure what I was doing, but trusting my instincts. This was more than instincts. I had been to this room before. I was going to break us all out, and I came here first, thinking that this room controlled all cameras. I didn't make it all the way before I was caught, and as I was punished, the Eraser told me that I had been stupid. That room had nothing to do with the cameras on the first floor.

I grabbed Nudge's wrist and dragged her with me. She was good with computers and other electronics; maybe she was good with cameras too.

"Cover us," I said. I hoped that there was only one entrance to this room, and if we didn't get interrupted than we may be able to get a few spare minutes before we are found. Max nodded and turned away, scanning the hallway.

As soon as we got into the room, I knew something was wrong. I whipped my hand back, hitting Nudge in the stomach, effectively stopping her. I shook my head vigorously, and scanned the room again. There was no guard, and wires were hanging out of the wall.

"Something's wrong," I breathed, knowing that if we were being monitored, I would be heard anyway. She nodded, and began backing out of the room. I threw a bomb into the center of the floor and turned to walk away. Before I closed the door to that room, I tossed another bomb inside. By the time I got out of the monitoring room, Nudge had explained the situation.

Max's eyes were dark with anger. She nodded. "Downstairs," she whispered, and streaked off towards the elevator. Next to it was a set of rarely used stairs.

Max turned the handle slowly, and then swung the door open with enough force to knock over any erasers that may have been there. The door glided open, and revealed an empty set of stairs.

I didn't know her plan, but she had one. She wouldn't lead us down to where there could be legions of erasers without a plan. As we raced down the stairs, Gazzy tossed bombs after us, ensuring that every last cinder block would crumble. Max didn't bother turning the handle on this door, she just kicked it open. She didn't want to give them any warning that she was coming, as turning the handle would do.

We all were in our fighting stances, and Iggy had bombs already in his hand. He knew his way around, a little, from memory. He knew enough to know that we were about to fight like hell.

Except nobody was waiting for us here either. "This is weird," Gazzy said, sounding worried. We all felt the same. Something was off.

But Max was already running down the hallway, throwing open doors with reckless abandonment of noise. About five doors down, she stopped and turned to us.

"It's empty. All of it, empty!" she shouted. I was about to shush her when her words soaked in. Slowly I walked towards her, looking in every door I passed.

I passed rooms that had drains on the floor, which looked as if they were meant to have to spray it down. I passed rooms that had padded floors, these were meant for training. My mind was reeling as I came to the last door, passing Max. I had been here only once.

The memory flashed vividly through my mind. I was about five, Itex wanted me to kill. They put me in a room with a few emaciated dogs. They were thin and beaten, and let out a pathetic growl as I approached. When I refused to lay a hand on them, an Eraser came in. He told me to kick the dog, or he would kick me.

I refused again, rebelling against a full grown Eraser for the first time. He transformed into his hound form, and growled at me. The message was clear, hurt the dog, or I hurt you. I refused again, and the Eraser pounced. He tore me up, and when an elderly Whitecoat came in and told him to give me one more chance, the Eraser didn't stop. Only the use of a stun gun stopped that Eraser. The next day, I was dragged back, and told to kill the dog. I didn't move, didn't speak, and refused to show them that I was afraid. That was the first time I hid what I felt. When I didn't kill the dog, they did. It was ripped to shreds in front of me, its blood spattered me as it tried to fight back. It didn't have a chance.

The rooms' walls were made of mirrors, so every detail was amplified tenfold. My bile duct raged, and I struggled to hold my last meal. I opened the door, and the room was just as I had remembered.

I remembered the feel of the warm blood soaking my hair, and when I looked into the mirror, I saw my five year old self; scared, weak, with only hints of defiance.

My throat burned for only a second before I was hunched over, retching. Max ran into the room after me, fists curled, ready to fight. When she saw me alone, she understood. We all had memories that would incapacitate us in one way or another. This was one of my many. She said nothing as she walked forward. The glanced at the mirror, and deciding that it was what had triggered the source of this memory, she kicked it. It shattered, leaving a blank wall behind it.

I nodded my gratitude, and tossed a few bombs in, and grabbed her hand. We walked out of the room, and Nudge pointed to another room.

"It looks like an office," she said, pointing to the empty shelves on the walls. The wood was a dark color, not metal, like it would be if it was for lab work.

Max nodded. "I think you're right," she slowly said. "But it's cleared out."

Gazzy opened his mouth. "Maybe because we know where it is," he said. I felt deep lines forming on my face. I didn't like this. I didn't know what was going on, why it was empty. I didn't like not knowing.

Iggy shook his head, "No, we knew where it was when we first got out, and they didn't do anything to cover their tracks."

Gazzy nodded, "True, but we didn't know much back then. I bet they never even thought we would be a threat. They probably thought we were going to be dead soon anyways. Plus, now we know names of the higher ups. The director, Anne, all of them guys, we know all them. If we were to tell someone, back then no one would believe us. Now, people know us. Your blog," he jutted his chin to me, and continued, "and we've been in the news a few times. They might investigate now," Gazzy finished.

Max nodded. It did make sense, but still.

"Alright, we are going to search. Gazzy, Angel, with me. You three, search everything on that side. We've got this one," she said. Nudge was the only one to respond.

Max grabbed Angel's hand and Angel grabbed Gazzy's as they walked into another room. I nodded.

"Be ready, guys," I said. I wasn't convinced we were alone. After years of torture here, I couldn't think of it as safe; couldn't think that nothing here was going to hurt us.

Iggy nodded, and reached out for Nudge's hand for guidance. We crept in near silence down the maze of hallways, checking every room. Nothing was left, not a single sheet of paper, a single scientific instrument. Nothing was left behind.

I cursed as we left the last room. Gazzy was right, that had to be the reason nothing was left. That blew our plan out of the water. Now we wouldn't get this little revenge, nor would we get to instill the fear that the ambushes were supposed to create.

Nudge looked at me out of the corner of her eyes. "We can still do it, you know," she reminded me. And she was right. We would just have to alert Itex of our presence. But now, we would only take care of Erasers, not the equipment or Erasers in training. That would have been a bonus for us and a devastating loss for Itex.

I nodded. "Take it you've got an idea?" I asked her. From her tone of voice, she had some plan cooked up and it was most likely not one that I would understand. She tilted her head.

"Maybe, if there are any wires left in the security rooms. I could send a spark, and chances are that the main Itex building will get a signal telling them. They would want to monitor what happens here. They will know someone is here, and I'd bet that they will send Erasers. By now they probably won't assume anything; they'll be expecting us. I think," she finished uncertainly.

"Well then we'd best go find Max and check," Iggy said. My response was walking back to the hallway. I heard Nudge's quick sure footsteps and Iggy's slower shuffle.

'Are you guys ok?' I thought, hoping it would reach Angel. I knew it would, she was surely listening for danger.

'Fine. And empty, there's nothing here. How about you guys?' she mentally asked.

'Same. Were coming. Meet us by the stairs,' I thought. That was about midway between where we were. Without saying anything I felt that she was fine.

Minutes later we arrived at the stairs. Max and her gang weren't there yet, so I leaned against the stairway door.

"Nudge, tell Max what you got?" I asked her. She nodded vigorously. Iggy rolled his neck from side to side, cracking it.

"It'll feel good to off this place," he said. I nodded my assent, even thought he wouldn't be able to see it. "I mean, they still have possible plants in Florida, New York, Virginia, and," he paused, "I think that's it." He looked to Nudge for confirmation.

As they discussed where other possible locations could be, I focused on Max. Now was not the time, not at all, but I couldn't get her out of my mind. I kept seeing her turning away from us, hiding her face. I knew she was humiliated about how it looked, as anyone would have been. The swelling had gone down, but the cuts on her lips weren't healing. Not the not healing like the school poisoned her so she isn't healing, but the not healing because she keeps breaking them open kind of not healing. The bruises had faded from purple and black to a dark green. She didn't like any of us looking at her, even when I still saw the same Max.

Even when she was beaten, I saw the same Max that I always seen when I looked at her. No matter what was marring her face, she still looked… well, beautiful. Even in her most down times, she had always been pretty. Now was no different, although of course I didn't tell her this.

When she finally came into view down the hallway, relief flooded me. I hadn't realized how worried I was about all of them until I finally saw them. That was when I saw the look on Angel's face.

She looked livid. Nudge opened her mouth beside me, surely to ask the same thing as me. Max shook her head, indicating that we were not to ask. Nudge slowly closed her mouth, looking uncertain. She had really matured lately, enough so that she could control her verbal diarrhea.

I noticed Gazzy's face next, the tight lines and stiff angles that were rarely present, as sign of anger. I noticed how his knuckles were white on Angel's hand. Max walked slightly behind them, on hand on each of their backs. Her face, too, is tight.

I am instantly on alert. Did they find something? Or were we not alone, as we suspected?

"We found something," she said. Silence followed her statement. None of us really wanted to know, yet we were dying to. She seemed to sense this, like she usually does, and continued. "We found some rats. Well, they used to be rats. They are all in one of the testing rooms. Dead. Just skeletons are left now," she finished. She didn't have to say it. We all knew that the rats were probably lab rats and were left for dead. There were no accidental rats here; it was too clean and precise. These were left because of their ability to be replaced without difficulty. I thought of the rats, slowly withering away. They were tested, and thrown away when they were no longer needed. Just like us.

Fury clouded me, over simple rats. Did rats have feelings? I wasn't sure. But the Whitecoats didn't know either, and they wouldn't have cared if they did.

I gently elbowed Nudge, and she jolted. When she looked to glare, she realized I wanted her to start talking. Break the silence.

She told them about how she planned to alert Itex to us being here, and everyone agreed. Gazzy felt that it would be better to just blow the place up, when the Erasers came blow them up too, destroying every last ash of this hell. I liked his idea, but it had some major flaws.

So, we sent Nudge to work.

**A/N. Alrighty, school started for me. that is why it took so long (sorta. other stuff happened, but i'm sure you dont care so...). but here this is. i just want to tell you, that the next chpater will be another ambush. i'm sorry, but there will be action. lots of it, i just cant NOT have action. i love it, and expicially since i got super inspired to put... nevermind. there will be action, lets just go with that. **

**Thanks for editing to Miz636. When miromyth has finished, i will post the even more refined version. Thanks also for reviews, please review again. **

**Annonomus reviewers:**

**Samantha Windz- I haven't forgotten that they are super strong, don't worry. But at the same time, you have to think that most of the evil's that they are fighting are also uber strong. They have more muscle, and a different build, as do the erasers. And thanks for the author comment!**

**girludontknow- Sorry, I know that by this chpater, i kinda ruined the part about the loss of other avian humans. Sorry again, but i didnt think it was... fitting. Not for this anyhow, not for what i have planned next chapter. you will see, they dont have time to worry about others next chapter. oh shit, i'm beginning to give stuff away... thanks for reviewing!**

**Keri-I have gotten that comment from several people, so i think that is what i will be doing. sorta skimming, but sorta in depth. in between. thanks!**

**goldenwingchick- NO! Omega will never fall for max, it is WAY ooc! in the third book, he doesnt really have emotions, and is perfectly willing to kill her. that wont suddenly change, ever. not im my book. hopefully not in JP's either... Omega will come back into the story later, with a large part. as will several other possibly forgotten characters....**

**i think thats it for reveiws that i can respond to... most dont leave places for me to comment. thanks for the reveiws tho!  
**


	38. Revenge, Bitch

Chapter 37

Max's pov

Less than three minutes after Nudge walked into the surveillance room, she walked back out, announcing, "It's all set up! I just wanted to make sure we were all ready Max. Are we? Do we need to do anything else, because as soon as it sparks they will know? Any last minute things?" she finished. I rolled my eyes at her ability to ask the same question fifty different ways.

I shook my head and held up a finger, telling her to wait. "You guys checked the basement well, right?" I asked Fang, knowing that I hadn't checked it because the door to get in was in Fang's section to check.

Fang shook his head. I nodded and turned, heading for the door. "Then we'd better check it out," I responded. We walked down the stairs in sync, not as quiet as we could be, but still subdued.

The walls had plywood over them, and there was wooden beams half a foot thick holding up the ceiling. The basement was typically storage, but sometimes we would hear noises coming from down here, hinting at something more.

We took our time exploring, and when we found nothing, I called everyone back to the center. The basement wasn't all one open room; it had several dividers separating it. Angel was the last to arrive, and she seemed somewhat pale.

Catching where my thoughts were headed, she shook her head. 'I'm fine,' I heard in my head. I gave her a stern look. 'I'm fine, really,' she thought. After a moment I nodded, knowing she just needed out of there.

"I guess there isn't anything down here," I stated bluntly.

"Thanks Captain Obvious," Iggy jested. I narrowed my eyes, knowing full well that it would have no effect on him.

"Anyhow," I began, "as soon as we send that signal," I stopped speaking abruptly when I heard a slight thump. I looked to Iggy, hoping he wouldn't be staring at the ceiling like he was. If he had heard it, then there was no way I imagined it. His face was turned upward, looking in the direction of the faint noise.

I threw my hands up in the air, holding one finger on each hand up, signaling to the others to be absolutely silent.

The others eyes grew wide. "Iggy?" I whispered, nearly silent. Not even Fang heard me, and he was standing right next to me.

He shook his head. "I think footsteps. Walls are thick, hard to hear anything," he mouthed. I nodded. Taking three deep breathes, I looked around. There were no windows.

I closed my eyes for a bit longer than a standard blink. What had I gotten us into? How stupid had I been, thinking that just because the surveillance room was cleared out we weren't being watched?

A sudden desperate thought struck me. Maybe it was just a group of normal teenagers breaking in to vandalize? It was possible, kids did that all the time, didn't they? And plus, this would be the perfect area. If the kids were local (as local as you get when you live in the desert), then they had to have heard about this place. I'm sure it was talked about, being as secretive as it was they were just bringing it upon themselves. Now that it was abandoned, it would be the perfect place to explore and to sabotage.

I allowed an ounce of relief to flood me before I realized another problem. We had randomly thrown bombs all over the ground up there. Even if this was just as group of teens, they didn't need to get a hold of a bunch of bombs. My eyes snapped open.

"Guys," I whispered, getting everyone's attention. "It might just be some people checking the place out or…" I hesitated to say it aloud, "maybe Itex knows we are here. Even if it is some kids just looking to wreck the place, there are bombs everywhere up there! But if it's Erasers we're trapped."

I was at a loss for what to do. 'Max, it's not kids,' Angel thought to me. A second after she spoke the words, they sunk in. Not kids. We both knew that meant it was Erasers. I nodded, thinking to her that she needed to tell the others.

A moment later, Fang's face hardened. "Nudge?" I whispered every so quietly, asking if she had alerted them in that one word. If not, then this was even worse.

"I didn't do it, I was waiting for your okay," she spoke in an undertone. I took a deep breath and swallowed.

"Then they know we're here," I said. I ran through two plans in my head. In the first, Iggy sat out just in case we needed medical help. If he was available immediately, we would suffer less. In the second option, we all fought. We wouldn't get helped as fast, but we had a better chance of getting out of here. Plan two it is.

I pulled my shoulders back and raised my chin. Looking at every detail of the basement, I noticed a few things. Under the stairs there was a separate storage area. It reeked of damp mold in there, and we wanted nothing to do with it. Now, it gave us the advantage.

I pointed to it, "If we find something heavy, when they come down we can break the stairs," I said. Gazzy's eyes hardened when I said 'when' instead of 'if'. I wasn't going to sugar coat this for them; the odds weren't in our favor.

Iggy nodded. "Iggy, map the place out," I said. He would fight better if he had a basic idea of where everything was. In the few precious seconds before the Erasers were upon us, we had to take advantage. "Fang, get something heavy," I instructed. "Angel, try to get them out. Nudge, Gazzy, you're with me. Find every weapon you can," I ordered. We fanned out, trying to find something to give us the advantage. We hadn't brought much, weapon wise, because we planned to blow it up from the air. We figured that weapons would only weigh us down when we fought the Erasers that were inevitably- we thought- in here. Now I was kicking myself for not bringing everything we could.

Gazzy called my name softly. When I got near enough to him, I saw that he had found a steel gurney. I nodded and we each picked up a side despite the wheels and put it in the center of where the stairs came down from. We wanted no noise, and who knows when these wheels were last greased. When we got it over there- it was relatively heavy- we tipped it on its side. A shelter, if you will. If the Erasers came down with guns, we would have a bit of shelter.

At that moment, I promised myself that no matter what, if the Erasers started shooting then the first gun I got a hold of would take lives. Swallowing deeply, I gave Gazzy a thumb up and continued looking. We found several more tables like that, and lined all but one in their sides, offering some protecting. The last we left on its wheels, with the breaks off, ready to crash into the first Erasers to set foot on the floor.

The footsteps were now more numerous. My breathing was becoming rapid, little breaths, preparing my body to fight. I felt the adrenaline pumping through my veins, and knew that I was ready.

Just then, Fang returned with a pipe that was dripping smelly water. I raised my eyebrows, wondering how he had gotten that silently. He had clearly taken it from the piping, as it was dripping water. He handed it to me and turned without a word, running back from where he had come.

Iggy had mapped the place out in his mind and was just returning when Angel's voice entered my mind. 'They know we're down here! They're coming!'

Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge squatted behind the gurneys, ready to attack. I grabbed Iggy's hand and pulled him to the cupboard under the stairs. It would take both of us to break this wood, even if it was slightly rotted through. Just was I was about to open the door, I felt a warm touch to my arm.

I looked, and barely was able to make out Fang's disappearing form. He held a pipe in his hand and a grim smile on his face. I threw open the door to the closet before I had a chance to doubt it and grabbed the pipe like a bat with one hand. With the other, I positioned Iggy's hands on it. When we both had a good grip, I whispered, "Whenever you say 'go'".

I heard the door open, squeaking only slightly. In the dim light I saw Iggy tighten his grip. Following his lead, I readied my arms for impact. At the last second I thought to open the door so we could get out and I heard a halt in footsteps. I winced, knowing I had just given a bit of us away.

Hopefully they would think we were just trying to hide. The steps resumed, and I heard Iggy draw a breath. "Now," he whispered. We swung the pipe simultaneously, and it cracked against the rotting woods.

The impact jarred my elbows, but I had no time to recover. I grabbed Iggy's shirt and dragged him out of the closet just as the closet collapsed. Erasers tumbled down to the cement floor, crushing the ones near the bottom. I allowed a brief grin before I prepared for action again.

There was a massive roar when the Erasers figured out what happened, and they came charging down the stairs with renewed zeal. Just as I rounded the corner, I threw all my weight into the gurney we had left on its wheels, smashing it into the midsection of an Eraser, sending him flying into his fellow mutants.

There were melon like thuds every few seconds, and an Eraser would drop of seemingly no cause. I didn't give myself a chance to ponder it as I ran up to an Eraser.

Jumping at the last second and kicking with my heel, I hit my target. The Eraser fell, nose gushing blood. I slammed my foot onto his head, cracking it onto the cement, knocking him out. I turned in time to dodge the fist that zoomed inches past my temple. I stepped closer to the Eraser throwing the punches and elbowed him right in the chin. He groaned, and glared daggers at me.

Taking a risk, I stepped even closer to him and kneed him in the gut. He coughed, and blood spattered my legs and the shorts I was wearing. I interlocked my fingers and wrapped my hands around the back of his neck. I began to knee him repeatedly, not giving him a chance to recover or escape. Finally, after a good fifteen knees, I put my hand in a fist and smashed it on the top of his head.

I heard an all too familiar groan and turned to see Fang materialize out of thin air, holding a pipe similar to the one I had dropped. Before he fell to his knees, Fang knocked another Eraser in the head, and a dull melon thud rang out.

I realized that Fang had been blending with the surroundings and hitting Erasers with the pipe, which created the sound I had been hearing since the Erasers came down. One of them had gotten smart, and somehow managed to hit him, I gathered. I grinned at his wits, before rushing to help him.

Three Erasers were all taking swings at him, having figured out that he was the cause for many of their fallen comrades. Upon seeing me, he tossed the pipe into the air, and I caught it instantly. I swung it, smacking an Eraser dead in the head and hearing a crack. Either his skull or his neck had just been bashed in, but either way, he was gone.

Fang sprang to his feet and Karate chopped an Eraser's collar bone, breaking it. With his arms disabled, the Eraser couldn't even try to block Fangs kick. He slumped forward.

I turned, allowing Fang to handle the last one. My instinct told me I was in trouble, and I was right. A piece of fallen plywood was in the hands of a bloodied Eraser, creeping towards me. As soon as he knew he was caught, he abandoned all pretenses of silence and charged at me. At the last moment I sidestepped and stepped down hard onto the board, knocking it from his hand. He stumbled forward, and I chopped the back of his neck.

He fell, and I stomped on the base of his neck. In one fluid motion I grabbed the piece of wood and squatted down onto my heel. I spun around, and knocked down several Erasers. I swung the board down onto them, and they too were knocked unconscious. I took a moment to look up, and saw that Gazzy was in trouble.

I turned to run for him, seeing that he was in more than just normal trouble, he was in major trouble. He had about six Erasers, fully morphed, all attacking him at once. Rage more intense than that already filling me up bubbled. These freakin' Erasers had no humanity in them at all!

I charged, only to be stopped at the last second by a cuff to the left side of my face. I stumbled to the side, shocked by the strength of it. Then I whipped around, ready to kill. Gazzy needed help, and I was getting slowed down!

Giving the only immediate help I could, I called out, "Help Gazzy!" in a clear voice. Nudge immediately looked over and seen his predicament. I turned my focus to this sorry fellow. As I turned my gaze back to him, his fist hit me square in the jaw. A perfect uppercut, I noted. Blood filled my mouth, and I blindly kicked my foot out, hoping to find purchase. I hit the outside of his leg, but not as hard as I had intended.

He came back at me, this time hitting my check, square on the barely two-day-old bruise. Opening my mouth to make sure my jaw wasn't re-broken, I sprang forward. Tilting slightly to the side, I aimed in on his head and kicked with all my might.

Just before my foot hit him, he swung his arm on the outside of my leg and wrapped it under my knee. I stumbled as he pulled my leg higher and higher, with him grinning all the while. Finally, he reached his other hand and twisted my leg forcefully.

I cried out as the pop of joints rang out, popping my knee out of place. He dropped me leg, and I temporarily lost my balance, stumbling. My nerves seemed to be in a frenzy, and I couldn't control my leg. I bit my lip, knowing what I had to do. There were still plenty of Erasers left, and the flock couldn't fight them without me, and I couldn't fight them with a knee pulled out of my socket.

I bit my lip, trying to stifle my pain. I drew on a happy memory, of me and Fang in the woods and grabbed my leg.

Pulling and twisting at the same time, I nearly had to stop. The pain was almost too much. I made an animalistic grunt and bent my knee immediately after it was set. The pain would be less if I did this now, and I didn't have time to wait for it to stop. I had just re-set my knee.

The Eraser that had been leering down at me snarled and jumped onto me. My leg still hurt too bad to hold him off with, so I went into defensive mode. I balled up my fist, bent my elbow and braced myself for impact.

The Erasers chest slammed into my elbow and my knuckles were smashed into the floor by his weight. My breath whooshed out of me, and I grunted again. Before I had a chance to catch my breath, he formed a fist and hit me with the side of it.

Pain exploded in my nose, and I didn't even see his next move coming. He hit me again, with the side of his fist, over and over. A hammer fist.

He would raise his fist up not even a half a foot and slammed it back down. There wasn't much momentum behind it, only muscle. He continued hammering on my nose with one hand, and restraining me with the other.

Finally, after several minutes of being pummeled, I knew I had to do something quick. I was going to be knocked unconscious or killed if I didn't do something. Feeling a slight opportunity as the Eraser switched hands; I swallowed and brought my legs up like I was going to wrap them around his waist.

Instead, I positioned my feet right on his hips, where his legs met his torso and were bent slightly out from straddling me, and pushed with all I was worth. Pain shot up my knee that had just been put back in place, but I ignored it. It didn't even compete with my facial pain.

I pushed hard, and by the time the Eraser knew what had happened, he was unable to reach my face. He snarled and morphed into a hell-hound. His face elongated first, and his arms grew wiry hair. And then the claws came out.

He clawed at my abdomen, not enough to rip my guts out, but enough to cause intense pain. And then he slashed at my leg and I felt the fire run up my leg. I yelped and forgot why I was pushing him. I brought my foot up to his face and kicked him square in the snout trying to get him to leave me alone.

He growled and slashed with his claws, missing by barely an inch. I threw my arms back and dragged myself back, trying to stand up. I didn't dare look at my leg, knowing that I wouldn't like what I seen. Just as I thought that his attention had drifted, he snarled and lunged once more.

As soon as he landed on me, he morphed back into a human. Well, a human form, anyway. He grinned, and his teeth were red with blood.

"Welcome to my revenge, bitch," he snarled as he grabbed my hair and pulled it from its ponytail. He wrapped his fingers in it, pulling roughly and leering the whole while.

Confusion flooded me for a brief moment before he slammed my head down onto the cement floor. Stars exploded in front of my eyes and he hooted with laughter. He raised my head again, and this time I knew what was coming.

I sat up slightly and rounded out my shoulders, preparing for another collision. This time, although my head hit, my shoulders took the brunt of the hit. I groaned, hoping he would think that he was still smashing my head on the floor. His grin got bigger and he pulled his hands outward, yanking my hair, and pulled my head up again.

I tried to bring my feet back up to push him off, but he wouldn't have any of that. He shook his hips, not letting my get any purchase, and said, "Not this time Tinkey- Bell."

Just as he smashed my head down, I abandon my attempt at pushing him off and extended my legs as much as I could. If this didn't work, I would be in trouble. I bent my legs at the knee and snapped them onto his back; hitting him on the spinal cord. He howled in pain and all his limbs extended straight out and collapsed onto me.

I shoved him off and kicked him as hard as I could in the back of the neck, breaking it. I looked over to Gazzy and Nudge, not having forgotten why I originally began heading this way.

They were surrounded. Backed into a corner was Gazzy, and Nudge was wildly throwing punches, doing everything she could to keep them from getting to Gazzy. Gazzy was hunched over, holding his side, and his shirt was quickly being saturated with blood. I looked around, and saw Angel too was in trouble, though she was only fighting one at a time. Fang had her behind him, with the only way to get to her to pass him. She would be fine.

It took me a moment to find Iggy, and he seemed to have been trying to get to Gazzy too. He was on the ground, unconscious, getting punched repeatedly. I ran over to the Eraser pummeling him and swiftly kicked him in the back of the head. He turned his head, wondering what had happened, and I kicked him in the face. He keeled over.

I continued in the direction I had been head before I stopped to help Iggy and headed for Nudge and Gazzy. Iggy would be fine, and right now, whether or not they would be was up for debate.

Along the way I grabbed the gurney and wheeled it towards them. Knowing that this could potentially backfire and hurt me instead, I sprinted forward, slamming it into the Erasers backs. They jolted forward, and some fell to the ground. I flipped the heavy gurney onto them, ideally killing them.

Nudge didn't spare me a smile, only continued flailing. Gazzy's face was paper white, and I felt dread flood me. If he didn't get helped now, he would die of blood loss!

Thankfully, the Erasers that were plaguing Nudge turned their attention to me. I knew they would; I had ticked them off more than her, and I was an easy target. They would have to wait to get Nudge because the crowd around her was so thick. I was easy pickings.

They surrounded me and began the attack. I felt myself weakening with every passing second, and knew that I wouldn't last much longer. My leg was bleeding too heavily. I saw Gazzy slump to the floor.

I found myself kicking and punching madly, just as Nudge had done. Finally, a reprieve came. Iggy had revived and was stumbling over. I nearly told him to get out and find some help when I remembered we had no help. We had no bombs stored outside, waiting to be used. They were all with us, and yet we still couldn't use them. The roof would cave in on us if we tried. It wasn't a risk we could take. Instead, I yelled out,

"Iggy, help Gazzy! You two, get out of here!" Iggy looked in my direction, and I saw his eyes. Unseeing ice blue. It was the only way I could describe it. They gave the impression of ice getting shot into your blood.

Good. He bent over and picked up a pipe, most likely the one I had dropped earlier, and ran straight for Gazzy. He shouted the whole time he ran, shouted nonsense, making nothing but noise.

It served as a distraction, and he barreled through several Erasers before he slowed down. Then he swung the pipe madly, and continued to shout out. Erasers dropped around him, and he called out among the gibberish, "Nudge! Get Gazzy out of there!"

The Erasers tried to prevent her from moving at all; coming at her again and again, but eventually she threw Gazzy over her shoulders. Her knees bent to absorb his weight, and she staggered slightly. But she bent her head low and ran. Several furry paws reached out and swiped at her, but she barely seemed to notice them. As she ran, Iggy followed her covering her back and stopping for only a moment to reach into his pocket. He pulled out a bomb, and threw it.

I nearly told him not to, but I knew we were losing. There were six of us, and well over 40 Erasers knocked out on the ground, and more than that still fighting. It hit the ground and blew up.

I dived for a cover I didn't need. The bomb made barely more than a loud noise. I knew that was just a distraction and when I turned I saw Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy fly up the stairs.

Fang knew what that was about too, and he lunged for Angel. The second he touched her, their forms became hazy outlines, barely visible unless you looked close. And they were. Not allowing my shock to register, I pounded my fist against the drywall, and all the Erasers heads turned to me. I dashed up the stairs after Fang and Angel. Any Erasers that followed I kicked until they fell back down the stairs, blocking the only way up to me.

As soon as we all cleared the steps, Fang and Angel became totally visible. Fang was panting and bleeding profusely, as were Angel and I. I waved my hand, telling them to run. They obeyed, and we all took off, but not before I stuffed the rock Fang had under the door to stop it from opening.

I heard banging on it, and as soon as I cleared the door just behind Angel, I saw something arch over my shoulder.

The boom that resonated literally threw me off my feet and flying into the air. I landed in a heap and had enough sense to throw my hands over my head. When the noise finally stopped, the ringing in my ears continued. I looked over my shoulder and saw the hell I grew up in engulfed in flames. A bleak smile spread over my bloodied face.

I lifted my head, and saw Iggy limping from the edge of the fence over to me. He reached his hands out to me and rolled me over. He lithely ran his hands over me and stopped at my leg. He pulled the spare hoodie from his backpack that we had used to camouflage Nudge less than a week ago. He tore it into stripes and gently pulled my shorts up.

He grimaced. "Sorry 'bout that. I wasn't sure if they'd be trailing you so I wanted to kill those bastards before they could get out," he said, concentrating. I shook my head.

"Glad we got 'em. Gazzy?" I asked worriedly, ignoring my own pain.

His jaw clenched. "He got stabbed with something. Not those knifes with poison, because it has stopped bleeding. Mostly. He's bandaged, though. He'll be fine, but we can't fly anywhere. If we get him up too high, he won't have enough oxygen in his blood to breath and will suffocate. Nudge's clawed up pretty bad, but she's taking care of it. She said you ate some fist and needed help," he finished.

I scowled. "I didn't eat fist!" I said indignantly. He rolled his eyes. I was worried about Nudge, but I knew that he wouldn't leave her if she couldn't handle it, so I swallowed my worry.

"Check Angel. Then Fang, I think they're both fine, but just check. Fang especially," I whispered. Fang always tried to tough it out and act like he was fine, even when he wasn't.

Iggy nodded and muttered, "I'll be back."

As he walked away, I realized a new problem. Even if we had gotten out of the actual building, now smoldering behind us, we weren't home free. We couldn't fly, which made us sitting ducks on this flat landscape. Surely someone heard the building explode, and now everyone was after us. The American citizens, for killing 'police officers', the Cops, for killing fellow 'Law enforcement agents' and Itex, because, well, we had escaped.

The terrain for miles was flat and sandy, nowhere in sight to hide.

We needed to move, fast.

**A/N. Alright, guys. I have no excuse for not updating, because I had the chapter done. My reason for not posting a week or two ago is this; I have only 12 reviews for the last chapter. **

**I got 251 people who looked at that chapter alone on the first day it was posted, and only twelve bothered to review. So, I'm going to be a bitch. I will not post until I have either 35 reviews for _this_ chapter, OR twenty reviews for _last_ chpater (8 more) _and_ twenty for _this_ chapter. **

**If you think I'm being horrible, I am and I know it. I'm sorry about that, I truely am, but I cannot post unless I know if you guys like the direction the story is going. What would be the point of me writing a story that no one liked? So I need to know if you like it, and I know that through reviews. So please, review. **

**(To the twelve of you who reviewed last chpater: if these wishes are not fufilled in the next week I will personally send you the next chapter as soon as it is done as a thanks. I appreciate your reviews greatly).**


	39. Burning

Burning

_As he walked away, I realized a new problem. Even if we had gotten out of the actual building, now smoldering behind us, we weren't home free. We couldn't fly, which made us sitting ducks on this flat landscape. Surely someone heard the building explode, and now everyone was after us. _

_The terrain for miles was flat and sandy, no where in sight to hide. _

_We needed to move, fast. _

Max's pov

I panicked, looking around. Again, our plan was flawed. We had no plan of escape. There would be no flying out of this, not with Gazzy being so low on blood.

I brought my hands to my face for several seconds, taking deep breaths. "Guys, we have to go, now," I concluded.

Iggy shook his head. "We can't move Gaz, he's bleeding really badly already, but moving him will make it so much worse," he said. We already had Total licking the wound, trying to make it heal faster. Don't ask us why, but dog's spit makes things heal, and Totals worked especially fast. He griped about mistreatment, until he seen the shape we were in. Then he griped that if he had been with us instead of stuck in a backpack in the trees, we wouldn't be hurt so bad. I didn't have time to argue, not when I knew that he just felt bad about being so useless on these raids. If he were with us, he would only slow us down and give us one more thing to worry about. We had enough worries already.

I felt my stomach clench, and the familiar pain of a tension headache combined with all my injuries coursed through my body. Making a consecutive decision, I replied, "Then we need to stop the bleeding."

"Genius! Why didn't I think of that! You're a freakin' genius!" Iggy shouted, obviously perturbed and worried.

I narrowed my eyes, trying not to shout back that I didn't have all the answers, all I knew was that within the hour SWAT would show up, and we needed to be clear by then.

'_Maximum, you know the answer to this,'_ the Voice gently pushed into my head.

I started, still startled by the entrance of the Voice into my head. Then I shook my head, 'No I don't,' I thought.

'_It lies within your ability to do the thing you hate most,'_ the Voice replied.

I didn't have to think about what that was. Being the cause of pain for my flock would be worse than my death, in my mind. I tried to think of the second thing that I would hate most. Capture came to mind.

I sneered. 'Sure, they might alleviate his pain, or they might just kill us,' I thought, incredulously.

'_Go back to your number one,'_ the Voice urged.

'You're right! Maybe if I break his arm his leg will hurt less,' I thought sarcastically as I did a quick check in my bag to see if I had anything to treat an injury to this degree.

'_No Maximum, think of pain, searing pain,' _the Voice advised me. I thought about it, trying to keep in mind that the Voice normally tremendously helped me.

Suddenly it hit me, cauterize it. I shivered and immediately blocked the thought. I wouldn't do it.

'_Which would you hate more, to be able to keep your flock from getting captured, or save them all?' _the Voice prodded.

'It's not that simple!' I shouted in my head, careful to keep my mouth shut.

"Max?" Iggy questioned.

I responded with a grunt, still waiting for the Voice to reply with something stupid.

"You got any ideas?" he asked. I barked out a laugh, thinking that my only idea would never work. "What?" he asked.

"None that are an option," I replied.

'_You have less than a three quarters of an hour,'_ the Voice interjected.

"Gazzy?" I asked gently, "Will you be ok to move?"

He lifted his head and it drooped slightly to the side. He nodded, but his eyes were unfocused, and I couldn't help but wonder if he even comprehended what I had said.

Moving may not even do us any good as we had to go by land, but I would feel better moving.

The second I jostled Gazzy slightly to lift him up, though, I knew that wasn't an option. He huffed a deep breath, and clenched his fists fighting off the pain. Iggy kept his hand over Gazzy's cut, but the blood began to leak through his fingers.

I scrunched my face up, knowing that Iggy was right, moving Gazzy wasn't an option.

"Any ideas to stop the bleeding?" I asked everyone.

'_Decide now Maximum, do you want to get captured, leave the gasman behind, or escape?'_ The Voice again asked.

"Iggy, start up a fire," I said with no emotion. Inside, my stomach was churning. Burns hurt, even just burning your hands, which were toughened. And that only lasted seconds. This was going to be in a tender, open wound. Much worse.

"We don't have time!" he erupted throwing his hands into the air. "We've got to stop this bleeding and move!"

"This will stop the bleeding," I muttered. Silence fell over everyone, even Total seemed to understand what was going on.

Angel looked between each of our faces, wondering what the silence was for. She hadn't been around the last time a wound was treated in this crude way.

When I finally allowed her the word, and what it was, but not the memory, she gasped. "That'll never work!" she exclaimed.

I nodded, "It will always stop the blood." You just don't know what else it will do, I added mentally. I put my face in my hands again.

Gazzy was fading in and out of lucidity, and we had to go soon or we would be caught for sure.

"Get the frickin' fire going, NOW!" I shouted at Iggy, trying to block everything from my mind.

Iggy glared at me as he ruffled around in his rucksack and pulled out several things. Using some small twigs from his pack and a lighter he got a fire going quickly and fed it kindling until it was decent sized.

"Nudge, take Angel and go stand facing the wall. Sing the loudest most obnoxious song you can, as loud as you can," I said. I did not want them left with the vision of what was about to happen burned into their minds eye, as it surely would be for us.

Angel shook her head and jutted her lip out in defiance, but Nudge grabbed her hand. I looked to Nudge, and saw in her eyes that she was angry and knew what I was up to. I also seen that she agreed with me about not wanting Angel to see this, but didn't agree on being shunned off either. Total, too, seemed to agree with me. He rubbed along Angel's leg, and she picked him up. He licked her face, and quietly said something to her. Angel looked away from me, to Nudge.

I nodded my thanks to her, knowing that she too realized how little time we had. Nudge spared me one more dirty, but understanding look and turned. "Do you remember that song we heard a few weeks ago? It was about fire on a dance floor? 'Shawty got that super thing, hotter than the sun in the South of Spain,'" Nudge started singing. I gratefully smiled, mentally noting to thank her later.

I looked around nervously, just waiting for the sirens to pierce the air. I didn't like Angel and Nudge being so far away, but I would rather them be there than here. I could still see them and them me. Fang snapped me out of my trance by pulling off my backpack. He unzipped it and pulled out a hunting knife we got from my mom.

He unsheathed it, and tossed it up in the air, and caught it by the blade. He handed it to Iggy, and quietly said, "Here's the knife."

Iggy reached for it with reluctance, but instead I said, "No, I'll do it," and took the knife.

I heated it over the fire and licked my finger before quickly poking the metal to see if it was hot enough yet. When I determined it was, I reached forward and pulled the dressing off.

"Max, do you know what your doing?" Iggy asked.

"I know just as much as you do," I said through gritted teeth. Iggy said nothing more, but you could see the distress in his face, he wasn't used to sitting this sort of thing out.

At the last second, I had second thoughts. What if I burned him more than I meant to? I _had_ to stop the bleeding, and I _had_ to move, but did I _have_ to do this? Burning was the worst kind of pain, and I was about to intentionally burn Gazzy. If I burned the edges of where the worst of the stab wound was, then it would scab over instantly and the bleeding would stop. If I burned too deeply, I would permanently damage the nerves.

"Damnit," I uncharacteristically swore under my breath. Iggy seemed to hear me anyways.

"Give me the knife, I'll do it Max," Iggy said gently. I didn't want Iggy to be left with the memory of burning his best friend, but I knew he could do it. He knew how essential it was that we moved, and he could be very practical. I couldn't.

I grabbed his hand and placed the hilt of the knife in it, not wanting him to get burned. Grimacing, he probed Gazzy's wound one last time.

Just before the blade made contact, I tore my eyes away to see Nudge, Angel, and Total over by the wall, seemingly not paying attention. But I knew better. I focused on Gazzy again.

He took a deep breath and put the hot blade of the knife where the majority of the blood was coming from, on the back outside of Gazzy's leg. The sizzling sound didn't compare with the anguished sound escaping Gazzy's unconscious lips.

I felt tears prickle in my eyes and Iggy pulled the knife away. He stuck it back in the fire, and probed Gazzy's burning flesh. He too was grimacing and when his head turned slightly my way, I saw his unseeing eyes squeezed tightly shut, tears leaking slowly from them.

I swallowed deeply. Gazzy seemed to be gaining lucidity, and with that came the recollection of pain. He started groaning and whimpering, clenching and unclenching his fists. Iggy made a chocking sound and more tears escaped his eyes.

As Iggy brought the knife back to Gazzy's leg, to cauterize an adjacent spot to the last, Gazzy fought to sit up.

Fang lunged forward and pinned him down, face twisted in agony. Iggy hesitated only a second before placing the knife on the wound the final time.

Gazzy screamed out, and I felt the tears escape my eyes. Disgust filled me, disgust with myself, mostly. I hated that the best way to take care of my family was by hurting them more. My breaths came heavy and deep, but my lungs still seemed empty.

Less than 3 seconds after the knife came into contact with the wound, Iggy lifted it. He glared in disgust at it and reached his arm back. He stood up, and threw the knife as far as he could. He turned away from Fang and I, and I seen him wipe his nose before he kicked the coals around, spreading them out.

Fang slowly let go of Gazzy's arms, and Gazzy immediately began thrashing around, trying to punch at empty air.

Fangs eyes showed his agony, not even he could hide how painful this had been for us. He turned away quickly and grabbed his pack. He threw it over his shoulders blindly tossed me mine.

None of us spoke as we got ready to leave until Fang reached for Gazzy. Iggy breathed deeply and said, "Try not to move that leg much," with a thick voice. Fang nodded, Gazzy was out of it, having passed back into the land of dreams. You could see agony on his face, but he wouldn't remember any of this when he woke up.

I reached for Iggy's hand. It felt foreign to me, but I knew we both needed the comfort. Before we had walked even half way to Nudge, Angel, and Total they were walking towards us. I knew they were paying more attention than it appeared they were.

As Angel stood on her tippy toes to peer at Gazzy's leg, I shook my head and pulled her towards me. I hugged her around the shoulders, keeping her close. She grabbed Nudges hand, but not before Nudge placed Total on Gazzy's midsection. Total licked Gazzy's leg, trying to get it to heal faster. We all started jogging as fast as we could, keeping a pace faster than most humans can averagely jog.

Eventually, we all let go of the next person, using our arms to propel us forward faster. Every now and then, I felt tears trickle out of my eyes, but I was sure that they blended in with the slight sheen of sweat on my face, which the whipping wind did little to dry.

Finally, we came to a dip of about 4 feet deep and 8 feet across. My mind jumped to a trap, and I began to do a three sixty. Nudge cocked her head to the side.

"Max, I'm pretty sure this is a dried up river. I seen it in a movie once, like, you know how deserts have a wet season right? Just a little water, but still. Anyhow, all the water drains from the mountains and makes these like… carved out parts of sand. I'm pretty sure that's what this is, cause, like I don't thinking anyone would dig a trench out here," Nudge spoke alibit out of breath.

As I looked to my left and right, her theory made sense. I nodded determinedly. Finally something might be going out way. "Guys, we're gonna follow this. With the flat-ness of the desert, we stick out majorly. In here, we'll be a bit harder to spot," I said. Then I turned and headed in the direction of the distant mountains.

If we kept up this pace, we could be there before morning.

Fang nodded, and streaked off ahead of me. As he did, I seen Total, bobbing up and down with each of Fang's footfalls. The sight was a bit comical, except for the fact that he wouldn't be there if not for Gazzy's grave injury. That wiped the slight smile off my face.

Not even 5 minutes after we got into the natural trench, we heard the noises of the cops arriving. Instinctively, everyone hunched over, trying to conceal our heads.

I prayed that they would search the building first, giving us time to get to the cover the mountains would provide. If not, there was no way we could survive another fight. I felt the stiffness in my joints, and looking at everyone else, other than Gazzy and Angel, we were in bad shape. Gazzy was really bad, and Angel had hardly a scratch on her. She wasn't much for hand to hand combat, so she tended to escape fights with less physical marks, but more mental exhaustion.

The sun set agonizingly slowly. The darkness would hide us a little better, and we wouldn't be spotted unless the searchlight went directly over where we were. With the wind as heavy as it was, I hoped that out foot tracks would be wiped away before morning, when the real search would begin.

We ran all night, ran until it seemed that our veins pumped battery acid, and we still continued until finally we reached out destination.

The mountains loomed forebodingly above us, but I knew that even here at the base we would find some where to rest for a little while.

Fang set Gazzy down on the flattest ground we could find, and we all looked for a spot near the base of the mountain to stay.

We found a spot not a hundred feet from the base, and I used my hands to move all the pebbles out of the way. We brought Gazzy into in, he was still fully unconscious, and left Angel with him, as she wouldn't be much help with what we were doing now (so Total obviously stayed as well).

Then we worked on collecting large rocks to randomly place around where we were staying, hopefully making it harder to spot us. It would work for now.

We all laid down, and I didn't bother delegating watches. I knew none of us would be sleeping.

That day was one of the worst of my life. Now, I've had some pretty bad days, but nothing could compare with the torturing moans and groans of Gazzy's pain. Nothing was worse that hearing one of the most important people in my life suffer like that.

About halfway through day, I started hearing a chopper running over the dessert. That was when I grabbed the newly purchased Ruger SR9 from my bag pointed it at the only space big enough for someone, or something, to get in through. Fang followed my example, dug through his pack for the Glock that we lifted off a dead Eraser and pointed it at the door.

If anyone tried to disturb us today, either they were going to get blown to pieces, or I was. No one, and I mean no one, was going to cause any more harm to any one of us with me here. They would have to kill me first.

**A/N Here is the latest chpater. sorry it has been a day longer than i planned, but my sister came down with mono and branchitus (sp?) and i've been taking care of her... sorta. So, anyhow... thanks for the reviews, and i hope you like this chappie.**

**Sorry there is no fax... but this chapters mood isnt right to have fax in it... so yeha. but dont give up, there will be some fairly soon. **

**Please reveiw, and enjoy!**


	40. Service Berry

Service Berry

Fang's pov

I lay next to Max, gun pointed at the only opening to our hideout. Exhausted as I was, I knew that even if I tried to sleep, I wouldn't be able to. There was too much going on in my mind to let it rest.

The run here had been terrible. Before I knew that Gazzy was hurt, my whole body ached. My nose felt broken from getting beaten by a 2x4, and I couldn't honestly tell you when during the fight the rest of my body was injured. Once I found out Gazzy was hurt as bad as he was, it was like morphine. My body didn't hurt anymore and I focused completely on helping Gazzy. The second Max came to the conclusion of using cauterization of stop the blood; I knew it from the look that passed over her face. When it came to seeing it done, I couldn't do it. I closed my eyes.

After, I picked Gazzy up and ran as fast as I could while carrying him as smoothly as possible, so as not to jolt him into waking up. Right then, my only hope was that in the morning he wouldn't remember any of this pain.

As I picked up the first stone after leaving Gazzy with Angel, my pain flooded back to me. I closed my eyes in a weak attempt to block it, but, of course, that didn't work. So I did my best to ignore it, and built a hideout as fast as I could. I knew when we were done, we'd be more protected, and I'd be able to rest.

So here I lay, jaw clenched against the pain from my various injuries with my gun ready for some sorry bastard to try to hurt us.

After a few hours of laying in the same position, I knew I needed to move. So I made sure Max was still ready, and I sat up. The sound of my joints cracking echoed as the first sound since we had arrived and broke the heavy silence as something other than Gazzy's anguished moans. Max glanced at me from the corner of her eye and then focused back on the entrance way.

Just then I heard a horrible sound. Gazzy had woken up. I saw him reach for his leg and start whimpering. Before I comprehended what he was doing, he touched it. His eyes pinged open, and his jaw clenched.

He was awake for good now, though his eyes were still unfocused. He threw his elbows back, hitting Angel on the inside of her legs to get her to release him, and then rolled to the side away from Iggy.

Just as he was about to stand up, he seemed to realize who we were. Then the shock wore off, and he started twitching.

"Gazzy!" Angel cried.

"You're fine, man. Calm down," Iggy comforted while reaching his hands out to find Gazzy.

Gazzy nodded and squeezed his eyes shut. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said gruffly. "What happened?"

Silence flooded the air again and Gazzy turned to Max. When she said nothing, he finally looked to his leg slowly, knowing something was bad.

He gasped. "How'd my leg get so burned?!" he choked, and I knew that he thought a bomb had went off in his pocket. That's what it looked like happened.

Max looked grimly at me, seeming to ask if she should tell him. I looked the ceiling, then the floor, a movement she would take for a head nod but no one else would see.

"We fought with the Erasers. You remember that?" she asked him calculatingly.

He nodded, eyes still squeezed tightly shut, not looking at his leg

"Well…," Max started before deciding to be blunt, "You got stabbed in the leg," she looked to the ceiling, as if cracking her neck before continuing. "And we couldn't stop the blood, so we cauterized it."

Gazzy's eyes went big, and he gave in and looked to his leg. He turned away, face paled. Then he nodded, but still didn't say anything.

Angel continued looking at him while I explained what happened to him. When I had finished and he laid his head down on the rocks, Angel scooted over to him. He felt her moving, and opened his eyes. "Sorry," he muttered "Didn't realize it was you."

She shrugged, and lay down with his head on her stomach.

Another few minutes of silence passed before Total started grumbling. I looked over to see Nudge looking imploringly at him. Total let his tongue hang out as he got closer to Gazzy.

Gazzy looked at Total from the corner of his eye, confused. Total slurped his tongue back in before he said, "I get the divine pleasure of licking your wounds to make them scab over and heal faster." Then he started licking Gazzy's burn.

At first, you could tell it hurt Gazzy and you could tell it took everything left in him not to shove Total off. But gradually, he relaxed. By the time Total had finished, Total was making funny faces, and Gazzy seemed to be in less pain.

"When it gets dark out again, I'll look for some food," I quietly said. Max nodded. We all knew it was too risky to look when it was light, with the helicopters out there, we'd be spotted in a minute. But we had gone a whole day with no food, and were injured, needed food to heal, and in general were just hungry.

The sun soaked the desert sand a few hours later, and we all were getting antsy. But the time Max deemed it dark enough to go out, I was almost at the point of sprinting out.

I went out alone and did my best to stay blended in with my surrounds, making me virtually invisible. Concentrating on two things didn't work very well, and made it difficult to gather anything edible. And, I wasn't certain of what could and couldn't be eaten.

I came to a bush, fairly large, growing on a pile of rocks that were the tallest thing for miles. Small white flowers littered the bush. That wasn't what interested me. Little berries that closely resembled blueberries were surrounding the flowers, plentiful. I sniffed the berries, not sure what I was even smelling for.

But nothing seemed off, so I grabbed one and broke it, letting the juices spill over my skin. I waited another few minutes, and my skin didn't seem to be disintegrating, so I dabbed some juice on my lips. They didn't burn or prickle, so I had to assume that meant something.

I was wary to take these back to the flock, not knowing for certain if they were even edible, but I knew we had to eat something. So I grabbed all the berries and flowers on the bush, picking it clean.

As I began walking back, I realized that I was completely visible. The whole reason I went was because I could keep myself invisible, and here I was not even focusing!

I mentally kicked myself, and focused on blending in. after a few minutes of quickly walking, I came to the spot where we were hidden.

I hesitated only slightly before popping there berry in my mouth. I hardly sensed the flavor, just concentrated on my heartbeat, and making sure I could feel it working.

As I got close, I told Angel via mind talking that I was on my way and to listen for me. I told her no one was around me, so it was me she'd hear.

I didn't want to be shot by Max when I walked in, so I made sure that my path was cleared.

I slid in the minute opening, careful to drop no berries. I spread them out, but shielded them from everyone else.

"Not sure what they are," I said. Max frowned at me before shoving me gently and taking one. Just before she popped it in her mouth, I grabbed her wrist and shook my head.

"Well we've got to see if they're any good!" she said.

I nodded. "I tried one," I said, and gestured to give me a few minutes to make sure I was ok. She frowned but said nothing, knowing that she couldn't scold me for something that she was just about to do.

We waited. As we waited, Gazzy laid back down on Angel's stomach. When it growled for the first time, Gazzy chuckled because it felt funny. When Gazzy laughed, it made Angel laugh because it tickled her. I rolled my eyes at them, but knew enough to appreciate that Gazzy was feeling well enough to act like he was ok.

When you looked close, you could tell he wasn't doing well. His face was pale, his eyes bloodshot, and it seemed to take tremendous effort for him just to blink. But he was getting better.

Finally, Max declared that we could all eat just a few. Everyone grabbed the berries first, a small handful, and practically inhaled them, me included. Total didn't grumble a bit about the taste, though they were sweeter than anything I had tasted in a while.

Hours later, just after the moon had been at its highest point, we ate more berries. We devoured the flowers, as well. We kept only one berry and one flower, for reference.

I looked out, and knew that I had enough time to run out and try to find more berries.

"Max, I'll be back," I said, and stood up, feeling my joints cracking again.

"Gonna find more?" she asked. I nodded, and she stood up too. "I'm gonna come so we can carry more," she said. Then she turned to Nudge. "I'm leaving this here; don't touch it unless anyone comes through that door. Just point and fire, the safety's off. Don't touch it otherwise. Got it?" Max asked Nudge. Nudge nodded slowly, looking apprehensive. Both her and Max looked queasy about it being left with her, but Max needed out of there too.

She was just as antsy as I was, but hadn't been out. Iggy would need a break too, before daybreak.

I grabbed Max's hand and focused on becoming my surroundings. I was pleased to see that Max's shape dimmed too, and blended, though not so much as to where I couldn't see her.

Her body was tense, and I knew she wasn't comfortable with leaving them even if she had too. If any of us got too jumpy, we would fight with each other, or just get paranoid. If we hadn't left to find the berries, we'd be hungry and to scared to see straight.

Even if it had been Dr. Martinez that for whatever reason tried to come into our cubby hole, she wouldn't likely have gotten shot before we knew it was her. Now that I knew what we were looking for and approximately where to find it (growing on rocks, high up) it didn't take long to find more bushes.

I held the Glock at the ready, limiting how many berries I could carry. When our hands were full, we walked back to our hideout. Max alerted them that we were coming and not to shoot, and we dropped off the berries.

I looked at the moon, and knew that we had enough time to make one more run. "Ig, let's go," I said. Max nodded, and sat down with the kids.

Iggy stood up the best he could in the cramped space (not even Angel could stand all the way up) and followed me out without question. He knew this was his last chance to stretch before another long day cooped up. The younger group wasn't as Closter phobic as us older ones, so I was trying to prioritize.

As I turned and left, I saw Max ruffle Nudge's hair like she used to do when Nudge was very little. Strangely enough, it made me smile, thinking of the times when in our brief time we could touch, Max always made sure to comfort us.

Iggy and I walked, not talking, just as I had done with Max. He was happy to get out, but felt awkward, I was sure, by the fact that we had to be touching at all times for us to stay blurred. This time we went the other direction, and found berries very quickly.

We were halfway through cleaning out the bush when Iggy suddenly stopped and stood stock still.

"Fang, let's go," he said.

I nodded, but said nothing, not sure what he was hearing. I allowed only a brief moment for panicking, before I focused myself back on staying blended. I willed my stomach to be quiet, to stop making noises like it had been since I ate the first berry.

We nearly forgot to warn them we were coming, and only remembered at the last second. Then we snaked through the opening, dumped the berries, and let out a deep breath. Then I pointed the gun back at the entrance-way.

Max looked at me and in barely a whisper I said, "Iggy heard something."

Then she was all business too, ignoring the aches from lying like she was. A little while later the sun rose, and then the helicopters started. The tension which had diminished in the night returned ten-fold.

The searchers seemed to be homing in on us, getting closer and closer with each sweep of the helicopter. I mentally counted the bullets that we had. For my gun, the Glock, we had about 60. Max had a few boxes, and I wasn't sure how many that held. So I assumed 24 a box. That gave us less than a hundred bullets to work with, if our aim was true.

At that point, I blended myself and risked a peek out on of the tiny holes that we were avoiding like the plague. There had to be 500 men out there, and not all seemed to be police officers. Some were just volunteers, judging by their cloths. I knew both Max and I would have a problem shooting them.

I shoved that thought from my head. If they found us, I would do what I had to do, period, the end. Family was family, and I would protect them.

Hours later, well after the peak of the sun, we all sat in the same positions as we were when I announced that Iggy heard something. No one had spoken a word in hours, to afraid to talk.

Total was shaking, but still acting tough, occasionally licking our legs or hands to keep us calm. Every few hours he would try to help Gazzy's leg get better, and it seemed to be working somewhat well.

Gazzy wasn't breathing raggedly now, from doing nothing. He could sit up on his own. But still, he wouldn't let any of us touch it. Whether that was because he knew we made it hurt like it did, or just because it hurt too bad I wasn't sure. I hoped it was the latter, because even knowing it would be justified, I didn't want Gazzy to hate us for what we did. It was necessary.

I looked around, seeing how scared everyone was. Max locked eyes with me for a second, before she sat up, Indian style. The aim was more difficult this way, but if either of us lay how we were now, we would be so numb that we wouldn't be able to pull the trigger anyway. So I followed her lead. Not long after that, Nudge began to eat some of the berries we had brought back.

As she pulled her hand away, I realized how hungry I was. At seemingly the same time, all of us reached in to grab some berries. Nudge smiled, and popped on in her mouth. I nodded to her, before I focused back on the door.

Just as dusk hit, I heard a heart-stopping sound. A voice, not far from where we were began speaking. "This is hopeless. They probably took off in a car and are in Florida by now!" It spoke.

I prayed that someone would agree and call of the search. The response though, wasn't one I wanted. "That's not possible. The footprints lead this way for a while, then disappear and come back. They stay pretty close to here."

My gut twisted. When I looked for berries, I hadn't bothered to worry about footprints. One look from Max told me she hadn't either.

The relief with the next statement was very minimal, compared with what would follow. "Well, I won't be back tomorrow. Those kids are gone." The first voice said.

"The dogs will be coming out to look for them in just a little bit. Stay for an hour, and if they aren't here by then we'll go. Them dogs will find them," the second voice said. My stomach dropped. There was no way to hide your scent from a dog. We would be caught if we didn't leave. Soon.

Max set her gun down and began dry heaving. As much as it hurt me ignore her, I had to. I kept myself focused on the conversation. Nothing else said was of any use to us.

All we knew was that we had to move. Fast. Max's looked up, eyes shrink wrapped in tears from the dry heaving, and nodded her head to Gazzy.

I crawled over to him and whispered, "Gazzy, we've got to move you man," I hoped that he would be ok to move, but whether he was or not, he had to.

He bit his lip and nodded. "We've got to fly," he whispered back. We had told him why we didn't just fly out of here in the first place, and he understood. But, he was right. If we didn't, leaving would do no good. The dogs would catch us anyway.

I nodded and held a finger up. I crawled to Max. "How are we gonna do this?" I asked.

"Can you keep us all… blurred?" she asked me. I thought about it, but we both knew I couldn't. I could barely keep two blended in with everything. She looked outside calculating.

She then looked back to all of us, raw resolution in her eyes. "I've got it," she said. The others lapped her plan up, but me, her, and Iggy all knew there was one big hole in it. We also knew it was our only chance.

May luck be on our side tonight.

**A/N I know. I'm sorry. This chpater is late, and boring. I'm aware. This is the 4th re-write. I've got so much going on in my life over the last few weeks that I've barely had time to write, much less the inspiration. (If at all curious, read on) Again, sorry. **

**My 14 year old cousin came down for two weeks from way north of me. She is dating a 17 year old high school drop out who has been to jail 7 times. She was forced to come down by her Grandma, who found out about something. This guy, Jordan, tells her what and when to eat, sleep, talk, anything. He controls her life. He got her name tattooed on his arm, and when she can't becasue she's only 14, he got mad at her. So, he used his hunting knife to carve it into her arm (sliced 'Jordan' into her wrists). She passed out form blood loss, and my cousins Grandma found out. She so had her brought down here, and my Great Aunt (my cousins grandma) told me that it was up to me to convince Faith (my cousin) that this wasnt healthy. Faith wouldnt listen, and is dead convinced she's in love with this guy. She went back home two days ago, back with this guy. So for all of you who pray, pray for her, please. She needs the prayers.**

**In the midst of Faith's visit to me, my dogs got into a fight. (I have 3 dogs. a rottwreiler, a pitt bull, and a black lab). The pitt bull is a dog i found when I was little in the back yard. He was 2 months old, in the middle of February eating bark off our trees to stay alive, nearly frozen to death. (I live in michigan. winters are cold here). Last weekend he attacked my other dog, the rottwreiler. Neither got serioulsy injured, (this isnt the first time, by any means). So we have to put him down. **

**I love animals, love thme. And my dogs are.... they are there when I'm sad, mad, anything. That's more than i can say for my family. My dogs are my family. And putting one down is killing me.**

**So basically, the situation sucks. Yes, I'm whining to you guys. Sorry, but I've got to tell soemone. So, before you complian about the borning-ness of this chapter, or the late-ness.... think twice please. I'll write as fast as i can, but I'm really struggling right now.... and I dont think I'll have it out this week. I might, I'll try. But, review to help me. Thanks**

**FYI- the name of this chpater comes from the name of the berry that the flock eats. It really is called a serivce berry, and grows in california. It is eadible. **


	41. Descending Darkness

Descending Darkness

Max's pov

The plan was simple, in principle. Fang would have to blur everyone, one person at a time, and fly up into the air. He would fly into the sun, taking Iggy with him first. Then Gazzy would go, and Iggy would hold Gazzy, as he didn't have enough strength to fly on his own. Then Nudge would go, leaving me and Angel.

Angel would monitor everyone's minds that were on the ground for any sign that Fang had slipped and let them be seen. If that happened, I was to take care of it however I had too. We were counting on the cover of flying into the dusk sun to blind everyone, hoping they wouldn't even be looking in that direction. If they were, hopefully Fang would hide us. But, Fang could only do so much.

He had kept himself and another person invisible for a few hours while we collected berries, with the minimal food. His energy was down, though he wouldn't show it. I was afraid that he would drain himself too much, and then what would we do?

My confidence grew every time Fang successfully got one of us into the air. When it was finally only me and him to go I whispered, "Now, don't lose your concentration," with a smirk on my lips. He looked at me apprehensively, but wrapped his arms around me, holding me closer than he had anyone else. I grinned, and as soon as we got into the air, I focused on going fast, and we shot up, going faster than I had in a long time.

His eyes shot open wider than I had seen them go in a while, and a slight grin curled on his lips. When we got to the others (only a few seconds later) they laughed when they saw him. I was glad that after that first agonizing day in the cave with only Gazzy's unconscious moaning to break the silence they were still able to laugh.

We flew as fast as we could; heading north. I wasn't sure where we were going, but in the end, it didn't matter. We just had to get out of there, and get to somewhere where we could get food, and something to help Gazzy.

In the end, we flew out of California, over Oregon, and just into Washington. I looked down, as seen a particularly vast area of seemingly untouched evergreen forest.

Vaguely, in the back of my mind, I remembered to fly with the very tips of my feathers. I angled them downwards, and slowly began the decent. The flock, taking the hint, followed me.

We landed on angled ground and Iggy stumbled a little bit. I said nothing, knowing he wouldn't want me to. We scoured the ground for several minutes before we found somewhere suitable to stay for the night.

Finally, we settled for clearing the pinecones and needles from under a tree and hunkering down for the night. I looked around; wishing that we had brought a tarp to lay the sheet down on, the ground was all wet and soggy. Not impossible to sleep in, but still, not the best circumstances. We'd have to pick one up in town, if they had them in whatever store we went into.

Once we got settled, I looked to Iggy. "Iggy, Nudge, can you please find a town and get some major food and medic stuff?"

Nudge shook her head. "I think Iggy should stay, he's probably tired from the long fly with Gazzy, right Iggy?" she asked, nudging him with her elbow. Then she continued, "And I think you and Fang would know what to do best. What we need and all that. Right?" she finished, looking at everyone for approval.

I swear even Total smirked. I gave Nudge the dirtiest look I could muster. Just because the flock knew that Fang and I were trying something different didn't mean that they had to ensure we had our alone time. Just as I was about to open my mouth to tell them that, Fang cut me off.

"Sounds good," he said, and then opened his wings again. He then gave me a look that seemed to ask if I was coming. I looked back and forth between my flock. They had all turned traitors on me.

"Get some heavy duty tin foil, and some cheep cotton shirts or something. Only pure cotton," Iggy said. I shook my head, wondering briefly what they were for. I nearly instantly changed my mind. I didn't want to know.

Shaking my head, I too opened my wings.

Not too long after we took off, we came across a rather large store. We landed just down the road and walked the rest of the way. When we walked in, I saw that this was the perfect place to come. It was crowded; we'd never be noticed in the bustle to get out of here.

Fang and I headed for the warehouse section of the store first. I grabbed a big sheet of plastic to put under us in the woods to keep us dried off from the rain. On a whim, as we passed by hunting knifes, I picked one up. A few days previous, we had ditched out knife. You never knew when you'd need one. Then I grabbed some duct tape, hoping that would work better than medical tape. The actual pharmacy or medical part of the store didn't seem to have much variety, so I just pick up Neosporin and some of the store brand gauze. And by some, I mean a lot. On the way to the grocery section, we passed through the men's department with a few clothes. This reminded me to grab cotton something's, so I picked up a pack of plain white cotton tees.

Over in the food section, I thought about what we'd need. I grabbed a 12 pack of water bottles and handed it to Fang. The next aisle over was the tin foil. I grabbed heavy duty, grimacing at the price difference. Sure it wasn't my money I was spending, but who was to say that it wouldn't eventually run out? My attention turned to my growling stomach, and I walked to the cereal aisle. I grabbed 3 boxes, and then headed further down the aisle towards the granola bars. I grabbed 4 boxes of different kinds, not paying much attention to the flavors. The flock wasn't picky.

We walked to the front of the store, and I looked for a short line. My eyes flew to the express lane. That was exactly what I needed.

The guy behind the counter looked a few years older than us. Maybe 19 or so. Not old enough to be a fully trained Eraser.

Fang seemed to share my opinion, though he still seemed leery of the guy.

"You guys from around here?" the clerk asked amiably.

I didn't hesitate before answering that we were travelers, knowing that if I did it would surely give us away as liars. Technically, we are travelers, so it wasn't a lie.

Fang threw a few candy bars onto the ringer, all king sized. The guy nodded. "You guys siblings?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes at the question. I had light brown hair; some would call it blonde, but not me. Fang had jet black hair, and very tan skin. Clearly, we weren't related. "No," I said, hoping he would hurry up so we could get out of there.

He nodded, and gave Fang a look. It was a look that I couldn't decipher, but Fang seemed to understand. Fang lowered his chin and brought it to the side, very slightly moving it diagonal to where it normally rests. His eyebrows went up slightly. Neither said a word.

"That comes to $51.45," he said.

I handed him my Max Ride card, and he swiped it. Just as he was going to hand it back to me, he pulled it closer to his face. "Do I know you from somewhere?" he asked.

Feeling slight panic well up inside me, I shook my head slowly, as if I was contemplating. "I don't think so. Unless… you didn't move from Wakenburg, Pennsylvania recently, did you?" I asked, giving a made up name of a town as background.

He shook his head. "Never mind then. The name just sounds a bit familiar."

Doing some more thinking on my feet I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, my mom named me after some crappy artist from the 18th century. Thanks a lot, Mom," I said sarcastically.

He nodded, seeming to buy it. Fang grabbed the bags, and we were out of there as fast as we could without looking suspicious.

I had to defy my instincts and turn around to check my back, knowing that would only mark me as suspicious. Fang and I walked in silence for a moment before I finally spoke.

"You've got to stop putting 'Ride' on your blog," I said after coming to the conclusion that that was the only way this guy could have recognized our last name. We always made sure not to put my last name out in the open whenever I did anything in public. I was amazed that I hadn't seen it earlier, all our precautions to keep 'Ride' out of circulation as our names was useless; Fang had been putting them on the blog all along.

Itex would read that to see if we were stupid enough to say where we were; I was sure of it. Thank god we weren't that moronic.

We got back to where we had left from, and I felt pride well up deep inside me. The flock had been busy, collecting firewood, and pine tree branches. I smiled proudly at them before laying out everything we had bought.

Nudge and I used several of the pine branches to pseudo- sweep out the area before we laid the tarp down to get any major rocks out of the way. Iggy got a fire going, as it was just getting dark enough not to be noticeable. Gazzy and Nudge laid some of the pine branches above our heads in the other branches; in hopes that it would direct the water off us should it rain.

By the time we had discovered that it got pretty dang cold once the sun was set, Iggy had finished cooking the hotdogs for dinner. We ate cereal with the hot dogs, and just as we were finishing, the rain began.

I was sort of expecting it, considering that we were pretty much in rain country USA, but still I couldn't help but be disappointed. I cheered myself with the realization that if we were being followed by Erasers, this rain would throw them off our scent. Their sense of smell was better than ours even when they were in there human form, but put them in the Canine form, and they're lethal. Literally.

After a few minutes of sitting in the rain, I began to feel the cold. It seemed as if everyone did, and finally when I almost couldn't take it anymore, Iggy broke the silence.

"Guys, you bought the cotton shirts and tin foil, right?" he directed at Fang and I. I nodded, and then remembered that even though he directed the question to right where I was sitting, he couldn't see me.

"Yeah," I said, then I got up and grabbed them out of my bag which was on the makeshift bed, just so I had something to do. I pulled out the pack of shirts, and the foil and walked back to the fire.

He pulled out each of the 8 shirts individually, and grimaced when he felt the first one. I ignored him, just waiting for him to say something about getting the wrong kind or something, but to my shock, he didn't. He just folded the shirts up and wrapped them separately double layered in the tin foil.

He knocked the fire over until it was mostly smoldering ashes; then he built it back up again on the very outskirts of the ashes. I watched, curiously, as he placed the tin foil wrapped tee shirts on the hots from the fire.

Just after he finished, he looked up at all of us. He seemed to sense our questioning gazes, and he took a deep breath.

"I'm making charred cloth," he said as if it answered all our questions.

"And here I thought you were making potatoes," I muttered. He grinned, and responded,  
"Just because your potatoes would taste like this stuff, does not mean that's what I'm doing." I frowned at him, unable to respond. Yes, he was right; if I were to make potatoes they would taste something like a burnt tee shirt. "Anyhow, it's for starting fires. Next time we need to start one, this stuff will make it real easy. You've just got to get a spark on it and it'll light up with a bit of persuasion. I'm gonna give some to everyone so we've all got on in case Gazzy or I can't start it," Iggy said. I nearly laughed. 'In case Gazzy or I can't start it' as if that would ever happen!

"That'll be the day," I snorted. His gaze turned to me and my stomach knotted. Something about his expression made me freeze up. It could have been the dead serious way his jaw was set, or the slight down pull of his eyebrows that gave him a saddened look, or maybe it was the eyes themselves. Though they were cloudy blue as always, something in them seemed to be different.

He said nothing more, but sat just where he was, not moving for several minutes. Eventually he poked the foil in the fire and turned it over. A few moments later he pulled them off the fire and opened the foil. Inside was a shriveled up piece of blackened cloth. I didn't know how it was supposed to start a fire; it looked too brittle to touch.

He opened the foil completely, but shielded the charred cloth from the steady flow of rain. I watched him closely, waiting for him to give some clue as to why he gave me the look that he did. When he hinted at nothing, I finally broke.

"Iggy, let's go get a bit more wood. This fire needs to be bigger," I said curtly, giving him no opportunity to back out.

He nodded, seeming to know exactly what I wanted. I gave Fang a look that clearly indicated that he was in charge. He nodded just as I turned to walk into the woods with Iggy.

When we got far enough away, I rounded on him. "Is there something on your mind?" I asked, trying not to sound angry or worried. I had no legitimate reason, other than my gut feeling.

"You're talking about the charred cotton aren't you?" he asked, knowing exactly what I referring to.

"Why did you make it?" I asked. I vainly hoped that he would lie to me and tell me it was just for a bomb he was making.

But he didn't. "Like I said, in case I can't start one sometime."

"Why wouldn't you be able to start a fire, Ig? If you can make a bomb out of an egg you can start a fire!" I said, getting more and more worried about the turn around that seemed to have happened in his mind.

"If we get separated or something. Then you guys won't freeze," he said.

I growled. "We won't get separated! Ever!" I said forcefully. I wasn't sure where this talk was coming from, but I wouldn't have it. We didn't have room for pessimism in my flock.

"Face the facts Max. We're pushing it. Every day we push our luck. We have too, or it'll never get better, but sometime something's going to happen. And I'm just getting ready for then," Iggy finished.

I swayed and had to steady myself with a tree. Something is going to happen. Iggy had said exactly what I'd feared for a month. Something is going to happen. Iggy knew it; I knew it; Fang surely knew it. Even with all our meticulous planning, something was going to go wrong and there would be consequences. Stuff already had gone wrong. Gazzy nearly died; hell, if I was going to be honest, I nearly died. What if next time it wasn't so near?

I felt myself begin to panic, but deep down I knew that panicking would only make it worse. I would think irrationally. Yet still, I couldn't banish the worry.

"Iggy, if we ever want to be free, we have to do this. The only way to ever get a good life is by taking it!" I said in a near shouting tone, trying to convince myself just as much as him.

"So you think it's worth getting captured over? I'd rather run all my life then wreck a bit of havoc and spend the rest of my short life getting slowly tortured," Iggy argued.

"We won't mess up. Not this time. We're going to spend as long as it takes to make this perfect. Nothing will go wrong, and if anyone in the flock thinks we've left something out, we'll call it off. If we set it all up and you still think we messed up, we don't have to do it," I tried persuading.

His silence worried me. If we let thoughts of failure fill our heads, how were we supposed to plan all the details? The whole flock had to be on board with every one of these ambushes for them to have even a hope of working. I decided right then that I was going to go back to the flock and tell them what I had just told Iggy, that if any single one of us thinks we've missed something and it won't work, we'll call it off. It isn't worth getting caught just to uphold the Maxocricy.

"Fine. But we all need a break. We'll definitely go to your mom's for a while after this last one?" Iggy questioned.

I nodded. "Yes. Iggy," I began, pausing as I wondered how I was supposed to say this, "Last week was bad, but that's the worst. Nothing like that will happen again," I promised.

He turned his back, heading back to camp. "You know just as well as I do that you can't promise that. But it is a nice thought."

As I followed him back to camp, I wondered if Iggy was right. Should we call all this off, forget about our plans of draining Itex, and go back to our life of running? He was right, we had gotten by on the skin of our teeth mixed with a bit of sheer luck, what if that wasn't enough next time?

**A/N Depressing end. I know, and I'm sorry. But it's a little thing called reality that iggy is pointing out....**

**At the end of this chpater, my story is 723 pages. Thats a pretty damned big number. **

**Ok, so... sorry about the wait for this chpater. I am trying to crank out the chapters but... It isn't going as well as I'd hoped. I have another fic rolling around in my head that wont leave.... (It's a Harry Potter fic, about the marauder era fic). But, I refuse to start that until I finish this one. Which brings me to this, I think I've got about ten, maybe fifteen chapters left of this. there will possibly be a sequal, depending on how response to this story is when I finish it. **

**Leading me to this; last chpater I got 14 reviews. That's like... nothing. Which is ok, I guess, because last chapter was pretty borning, as is this one. I'm quite sorry about that. And the fax has dropped majorly in these last few chapters. But, think of the mood of the chappies. Do you picture max and fang randomly making out over gazzy's burnt and pained body? cuz I sure as hell dont. So I haven't writting it as it doesnt go along with the mood of the chpater. But.... as of next chapter... there will be a little window where I might be abel to work something in _if_ you guys want me too. But I really would appreciate if you guys reviewed my story, because that really helps me write better when I know that someone is actually reading this out there. So please... review**

**Thank you to Miz636 for editing this, she takes out MANY mistakes that I have in it, pretty much ensureing that it is legible.... thank you!**


	42. Arrowhead Tubers

Chapter 41

Max's pov

Upon arriving back at camp, I gave the news that if at any time someone felt that what they were doing wouldn't work, they only needed to point it out. No one seemed particularly relieved, which could mean one of two things; no one but Iggy and I had considered the consequences of their actions, or that no one wanted to say something with everyone else around. Either way, I was worried.

By this time, it was late enough to go to sleep, even if we hadn't had a trying day. As it was, we had.

I clapped my hands together and shouted, "Ok guys, time to hit the sack." I saw Nudge hopefully lift up her head, meeting my gaze. I smiled slightly. "What, want to watch or something?" I asked her separately from the others. She nodded vigorously, trying to contain her mirth. "Even if you have to take first watch, by yourself?" I continued, knowing the answer. All her nights spent lying awake had come to this, her own watch. I could tell she was excited.

"Oh thank god! I was afraid you'd never let me do it on my own! I'll keep the fire going, promise!" she said, sounded exuberant.

"The fire isn't exactly why we do this," I said flippantly. Her face cleared of its previous smile, and she nodded solemnly. Before I had turned all the way around, her smile was back. You couldn't contain that kid if you tried, sometimes.

I scrunched down and got under the tree, on the tarp. I had second watch, so I slept on the outside. That night seemed to be colder than all my time spent in Antarctica, even though I knew it wasn't. I just wasn't prepared for this.

We awoke in the morning, and scarfed down a quick bite before we began flying a little further north. We only flew for about an hour before I decided that we were at a decent spot.

It provided woods, water, and enough open space for us to set up the ambush in one place and set up camp a hundred miles from it without fearing being sighted flying over the woods. Exactly what I had been looking for.

An hour later I was hard at work trimming the lower branches off pine trees using the serrated knife we had bought yesterday at the store. I would cut them off, and then Nudge would drag them back to where we were staying.

I never cut more than one branch from a tree and never in a close radius to where we were staying. Only if the trees had many branches did I cut one off, so it would remain unnoticeable. Once my arm felt like it was going to fall off, I decided that we had enough.

Nudge and I headed back to camp where Iggy was building up the wood to build a fire with once it got dark enough. Fang had cleared out a spot between two relatively close trees where we were going to set up a shelter.

I looked between the two trees, wondering how exactly this was going to work. Finally I got an idea. I squatted down on the ground, and grabbed the thickest pine tree branch. I went to work on it with the knife.

Going in the direction that the branches stemmed off from, I cut them off, leaving only a little nub where they used to be. When the branch was nothing more than a stick, I nodded, satisfied. I lifted it about 3 feet in the air and stuck it on top of the branch closest to that height.

I tied part of the skeleton of my shelter to the tree so it wouldn't roll away, and began to work on the other long branch, trimming off its limbs.

When I finished, I put that branch at a similar height a few feet away from the other stick. I began to arrange the smaller tree branches in a fashion that would hopefully stop some of the water from reaching us. All the pine needle covered branches faced the same way across the top of the stripped ones, creating a makeshift roof. Then I laid more branches fanning out from the top of the roof down the sides, giving us about 6 feet from ground tip to ground tip once inside the pine shelter with two sides enclosed, and two open.

I walked to one of the open sides that was under a pine tree, and arranged more branches angled down to have the rain water flow off the shelter. Then going in from the open side, I crawled inside and called for Angel and Gazzy.

I told them to arrange the tarp so that it provided a floor, and to be careful not to knock over the shelter as it wasn't yet very stable.

I laid more pine branches in the opposite direction as the previous layer, giving slightly more stability to the roof of the shelter. I stood up and felt my back crack in several places.

I laughed to myself. Fourteen years old and already feeling the aches of the old. Just my luck.

I looked at the fruits of my last two hours' labor, and narrowed my eyes. It would have to do for now, but if the wind got too strong then this thing was coming down.

Iggy and Nudge had been hard at work collecting firewood to last as long as we could make it last whilst Fang had collected various potential things for us to eat.

Just as I turned to him, I saw him begin to wipe off his arm vigorously. He pulled his shirt up and spat on the end, and continued wiping his arm. I approached him, and looked at his arm. It was slowly turning red, be it from him rubbing it or something else.

"Fang?" I prodded. He scrunched up his face and walked over to where there was an assortment of different plants.

"This one's no good," he said, tossing what little of it he had gathered aside. "It burns," he said. I nodded; if it burned his skin than it probably wasn't good for eating.

Within the next hour, camp was set up the best it could be until we got to a store. We would have to get to the store to buy enough… stuff for Iggy and Gazzy to build a bomb, but I didn't want to do that until we had an area scoped out. So, we delegated partners. We would go out with three teams of two (Total would be with Angel and Nudge to provide insight) and if we found a spot we found suitable, we had to remember where it was. Iggy and Gazzy (the second team) would have to look at it for approval.

Which left Fang and I. Somehow, any chance the other Flock members got they threw Fang and I together, which I was nearly certain had a lot to do with Angel.

Fang and I set off with the sun at our backs, remembering exactly where camp was. We walked in near silence, rarely making a comment, for quite a while.

Finally, I broke the silence. "So, how do you think Gazzy is holding up? You think he is putting on a brave front, or that he really is getting better?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "Can't be sure," he said. "Guess we'll just have to watch him." I nodded. A moment later I saw a bright flash of reflected light. Fang had seen it too, as he changed course just as I was about to. When we came upon the water, I frowned. It was more of a pond around the edges, with dirty looking moss and Lily pads, along with some other sort of floating flowers. In the center, the water looked clean however. Still, though, it appeared to be no good for drinking.

"You think this would be a good place?" Fang asked me. I looked around, uncertain. "Set up a tent or something here. They'll think we're in it, and we will be over there," Fang pointed across the pond, "Waiting to blow them to smithereens."

I considered it. "Well sure, but what if they look across and just see us standing there."

He gave me a look that asked me if I'd lost my head. "We'd be hiding," he said, his tone suggested that he was talking to a mentally handicap child.

"Well duh, but where? I don't see anywhere that we'd see them and they wouldn't see us," I stated. He nodded.

He gestured for me to walk, and we began walking around the edge of the lake. Eventually, the mud got so soft that we had to remove our shoes and carry our shoes or they would get sucked off our feet and into the mud.

After several minutes, we spotted an ensemble that might work. There was a rather thick cluster of trees that all stood close together and had many branches. I figured that must be because of how the sun was able to reach them directly with no other trees in front of them with the lake being right there.

"So you bring Gasser and Iggy here?" Fang asked.

I nodded, "Yeah. This should work," I said. Then I grinned at him and jokingly said, "Sometimes I have the best ideas," as if I had come up with the idea to hide across the lake.

He smirked and playfully shoved me, releasing my hand. I stumbled slightly, and my foot slid in the muck. I reached out to try and steady myself, but ended up falling on my butt in the mud anyways.

Fang burst out laughing, shocking me, but not enough that I dropped the glare I was shooting at him. He put his hand over his mouth and his laugh stopped. When he pulled his hand away, the corners of his mouth were pulling up slightly, and there were indents in his cheeks where he appeared to be biting them to retain his laughter. Narrowing my eyes, I held my hand in the air for him to pull me up.

He looked down at me and raised his eyebrows. "As if you wouldn't pull me down the second you grabbed me," he said in a superior tone.

"Fine," I said and began standing up. My other hand made a squelching sound as it unstuck from the mud, and I wrinkled my nose.

Fang reached his hand down, apparently convinced that I wasn't going to try and pull him down.

As soon as I grabbed his hand, I yanked it lightly. His body tensed, and he grinned at me, thinking I had tried to pull him down. I grinned right back, and then pulled as hard as I could. He wasn't ready for the second pull, and came tumbling down, slipping in the mud just as I had.

He hit was a 'splat' noise, and didn't miss a beat. He flung some mud at me as he tried to stand up. It hit me on my outstretched hand, and in retaliation, I pushed his hand out from under him, making him slid in the mud some more. In seconds, it had escalated to a full mud war.

A few moments later, I collapsed in laughter. When I opened my eyes again, I looked to Fang to see if I should try to take cover. He too was pleased, as he had a slight smile on his face.

"God you look disgusting!" I laughed. He raised his eyebrows and I began laughing with renewed mirth. "I meant with all the mud on you!" I clarified, laughing at the fact that he thought I meant that _he_ looked disgusting.

He narrowed his eyes and said "Oh really," before he got an evil grin on his face. He began crawling in my direction, getting mud all over any part of his body that had previously been mud free.

He neared me, only inches away and then he said, "I look disgusting?" he questioned.

I nodded as the laughter dying in my throat. His grin turned animalistic and he grabbed my arm to stop me from getting away. I knew right then what he was going to do and I shook my head.

"Fang no! You're covered in filth!" I exclaimed as I tried to shove him off me.

"You are too," he mumbled and he leaned over me.

I used my free hand to try to shove him away, knowing it was a futile attempt, yet somehow not caring. He grinned and caught my wrist. Then he leaned forward.

"Fang, you have mud," I began, only to be cut off as he pressed his lips to mine. After a second he pulled back and I opened my eyes to see him studying my face. He flashed me another grin before he lowered his lips to mine again, releasing my arms.

My eyes closed of their own accord, and I began to run my hands over Fangs wings, which were fanned out slightly through the slits in the back of his shirt.

After another few moments he pulled back to catch his breath. He lowered his head so it was next to mine, and he muttered, "I'm disgusting, am I?" sounding only minutely breathless.

I smiled and nodded my head, "Yes," I replied. He could hear the smile in my voice, I was sure. We stayed like that for a few more seconds before he looked at me and grinned.

"Now you're filthy too," he sniggered. I sighed and shoved him, standing up. When I looked down at myself, I groaned.

I was filthy. And I had absolutely no way to take a shower, or any way to get clean.

"Great job Fang, now we're both dirty," I accused. He shrugged and began walking into the lake. The water on the outside wasn't the cleanest, but towards the center it looked decently clean. Cleaner than we were, that is.

The decline into deeper water seemed to be slow, and by the time he was in up to his knees the water had gotten cleaner and no longer contained any type of plants.

I looked around knowing that I would find no better way to clean up, and wrinkled my face. I waded into the water, feeling its chill overtake me. I stood in that spot for a moment, feeling the mud underneath my feet squish between my toes, as I allowed my body to adjust. I scrubbed my pants using my knuckles and the dirt seemed to come off decently.

I took a few steps further in, so I was up to my stomach and began scrubbing again, trying to get more dirt out while my body adjusted to the temperature change.

Suddenly I felt a sharp pain on my toe. I kicked it forward and jumped up, trying to get out of the water. Fang was at my side in a second, scanning the area around us and looking up one arm and down the other, looking for injuries.

I laughed lightly, "I think a fish bit my toe," I said, slightly embarrassed at my overreaction. It had startled me, which was why I jumped.

Fang raised an eyebrow at me, and stayed by my side. When I took a step further in, so did he. Looking up at the sky, I noticed that we had only a few moments until the sun went down. We had to go faster. We still had to go to the store tonight, unless we were going to go without eating tonight. Which did not sound at all appealing.

When I was in nearly up to my shoulders I hesitated. Since the first time, I had been bitten once more from a fish, as had Fang, though he said nothing. He had ripped his hand out of the water and studied his finger for a moment before he continued scrubbing his clothes. I didn't much want for my nose to get bitten while I was rinsing my hair. Though my face was feeling much better, it still hurt from the first ambush, and then from the second. Not even Iggy made a big deal out of my re-opens gashes or renewed bruising on my face after the second ambush; Gazzy's condition was much worse. Still though, it hurt, and I wanted it to heal a quickly as possible, just in case. If anything happened, I wanted to be in my prime fighting condition; any injury was a liability. So adding more injuries to my face- however slightly- wouldn't be a good idea.

I rolled my eyes and was about to say forget it and dunk my head in when Fang spoke up. "Them fish bite pretty hard for being so tiny," he said.

I nodded, wondering where in the heck that statement came from.

Suddenly, he threw his hands behind him and pulled his shirt over his head. I took a step back, utterly confused.

Fang dunked his shirt under water a few times, and then brought it out of the water to inspect it, silently. As he lowered the shirt into the water again, I couldn't help letting my eyes stray slightly.

Where Fang used to be nothing more than skin and bone, like all of us, he had changed somewhere over time. His shoulders had widened slightly, and become rounder, less angular. His collar bone had become more prominent. His chest too had changed. I couldn't put my finger on what had changed about it, but whatever it was I liked it.

He raised the tee shirt out of the water, knocking me from my ogling. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, and when I opened then again Fang had handed me his shirt. I liked it. A lot.

"To get your hair," he said simply.

I nodded in comprehension, and wetted the shirt again, before bringing it over my head and ringing it out. I repeated this several times, cleaning my hair as best I could, then I scrubbed down my shoulders with it too.

"Thanks," I said, handing it back to him. He tipped his head sideways and then dunked his head under water. Seizing the opportunity to continue our earlier mud battle, I pushed down on his back, sending his head further under water.

The second I released him, I took off running the best I could towards the beach. My legs moved with infuriating grogginess, as the drag from the water slowed them down.

Fang was on my tail in a second, and just as I reached the shore, he was pulling me back into the water again by putting his arms under my arms.

"You, Max, are a cheater," he growled. I sniggered, and splashed as much water with my feet as I could in our direction. Almost faster than I could comprehend, Fang dunked me under the water, bringing me up sputtering.

"We have to get back. I'm going to let you go slowly, and if you try anything, you're going back under," he said, speaking roughly into my ear.

I grinned. "I'll be good," I said in a chipper voice that we both knew I was using only to lie with.

As I felt him relax, I kicked off the bottom of the lake, pushing myself into him as hard as I could. We both went underwater, with me pushing him down further. He released me, and I took off for the shore again.

I got there and turned to see him coming up from the water, looking like he was out to get me. Knowing that it would only irk him further, I flashed him a grin.

He rolled his eyes and said, "I will get you later. But if we don't get back, they're going to be looking for us," he said. I nodded in agreement, laughing to myself that I got off easy. As he got further out of the water, I couldn't help but notice how well the scars on his abdomen had healed. Regular humans would still have a very distinct scar; though his looked remarkably good for having happened a half a year ago.

That wasn't the only thing that looked good, I mused as I allowed a brief, very brief, moment of self indulgence. I turned around, right after, so as to disguise that I had just looked at Fang in a way that wasn't the classiest. Also, it was to hide my grin. I shook my head at myself, and pursed my lips. Something must be wrong with me, I must be sick.

Even as I knew it wasn't true, I realized that as cold as last night had been, tonight would be even colder. Fang and I were both wet and wet clothes meant cold clothes. I sighed again, and decided that I'd have to wear Gazzy's extra clothes, (if he hadn't used them up yet as fuses yet) and let mine dry over the fire as long as I could. Fang would do the same with Iggy's, I expected.

I heard Fangs splashing footsteps stop, and I turned to see what he was doing. He was bent over, and just as I turned he pulled one of the water plants that littered the coast of the pond out of the mud.

"Having fun?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, as he gestured for me to catch the plant and tossed it to me.

He narrowed his eyes and said, "Getting tonight's dinner." I looked down at the plant I was holding, and examined it. It looked somewhat like an onion- potato hybrid.

"Dinner? What is it?" I asked.

Fang snapped his head to look at me. "You seriously don't remember?" When I shook my head he rolled his eyes. "It was our first free meal."

I nodded, somewhat remembering. When Jeb took us out of there, we had stayed one night in the woods. We ate some plant for dinner, but I didn't remember much about that night other than that I was shaking all night because I was so happy that we'd get to be free from those monsters. So naive, I had been. It was still a wondrous thought, though. How Fang remembered the plant, I had no idea.

Fang tossed me another armful, and then he waded back into the water to where it was clean enough to rinse the tubers off. I followed him, and cleaned the plants. When we both were loaded to the max with tubers, we began the trek back.

We arrived last, but they hadn't been looking for us, so not too late. When they asked us why we were all wet, I responded that we had been collecting tubers to cook for dinner and they were water plants. Everyone seemed to buy it, so I didn't feel too guilty about lying. Iggy would say something terrible if he knew what we really had been doing.

Rolling around in the mud, kissing, rather than looking for an ambush sight. Yes, Iggy would comment.

As Iggy felt the tubers from the plants, I further studied them. The leaves were a vibrant green, and circular, other than a piece cut out. I looked as if someone had sliced the leaf like one does a pie, same size on each leaf. A few had some flowers on it, white and somewhat wilted. It was late in the season; they very well could have been pretty any other time.

I set the plant down and walked over to the pack that had most of the extra clothes in it. I pulled out some cloths and as I pulled out the last article (pants, it appeared) a piece of paper fell out. I opened it, and my eyes widened.

It was a picture of the man, Ajax, who had killed his girlfriend years ago. I remembered the waiter; I struggled with my memory and dragged up the name of Buck, who had told us the story. Instantly I felt remorse, I hadn't been looking for this man, as I'd promised I would. I doubted any of us had.

We had been living in the moment for quite a while now. I looked at the paper for another long second, and folded it up, stuffing it back in the pack. I would be looking for this man from now on.

I changed into Gazzy's spare pants and Fang's old dress shirt from Gazzy's birthday, and brought my wet clothes over by the fire. I broke a stick from a tree, and set the clothes on it, near the fire. I hoped they'd be dry by nighttime.

Fang seeing what I'd done, followed my example, slipping into Iggy's clothes, which fit him well enough. They were a bit long and a little tighter than one normally wore their clothes, but not too terrible.

When the tubers were cooked (Iggy cut them into pieces and wrapped them in some of the leftover tin foil and cooked them like he had the potatoes) we feasted. They were bland, very much so, but not the worst we'd eaten.

Soon after, we laid down for bed. It was still early, but we'd be getting up early to Scout the sites picked for possibly ambushes. Then we'd be off to the store to give free reign to Gazzy and Iggy in their bomb making, and after that we'd begin executing the plan. Yes, tomorrow would be a long day indeed.

**A/N. Hey guys. this is the new chappie... filler. nothing happened but the fax that you've all been dying for. even that's a bit weak... sorry. (excuse my inability to type at the present moment... my fingers are numb. I got locked out of my house... in 25 degree weatehr, snowing. my clothes are soaked for either A. melted snow or B. sweat from running a few miles in this damn weatehr. my key is lost (which i found out today) and my spare key is apparently missing. sat outside for about an hour... my cell has no service. Neighbors werent home. forgive me. )**

**to my male readers; sorry about describing how hot fang is... i had some recent inspiration that just wouldnt let me not write that. lol. **

**This chapter took a long time to write,(researching a plant that grows in this area, and that is edible and hard to confuse. the name is (if you havent guessed) an arrowhead tuber. taste a bit like potatoes. then i looked up how to cook them. otherwise, the lateness is entirely my fault. found a (somewhat) new freind, that i've recently decided that i quite enjoy talking to, and have been chatting with him. which takes all my time on the computer. next post wont take 3 weeks... promise (help me here, blackhawk). shoutout to a wonderful reviewer, who made me immentlsy joyous when she reviewed... thanks Karate Chic!**

**please give me input, and tell me what you think of this in a REVIEW!**

***Edited my Miz636. thanks to her! check out her stories, old and new collide, old and new attack, and the story of a trapped birdkid. they're great!**


	43. Poison Oak Slow Up

Poison oak slow up

Max's pov

At first light, we were up and moving. By noon Iggy and Gazzy had some plan hatched on how to pull this off without a flaw. By two in the afternoon, we were heading into town.

We made sure to hit a big store, knowing it would have most of the stuff we needed. As we walked in, I grabbed a cart, knowing we'd have a lot of stuff to pick up. We went first to food, as we all were quite unsatisfied with last night's meal, though we knew we've had worse. We walked the aisles, throwing in box after box of cereals, granola bars, and other none-perishable foods. We arrived in the soup aisle, and we all threw in a few of our favorites soups. Nudge took Iggy to the aisle with some spices, and he grabbed a few. He said they'd make the tubers taste better, as we'd be eating many of those over the next few days.

After we had all the food we'd need for the next few days, we headed for the other side of the store; the side containing some of the stuff we'd need to pull this off.

We grabbed duct tape, a few lighters (even though Iggy or Gazzy could start a fire at the drop of a hat, it was still easier to use a lighter), a few alligator clips, a couple paint stirring sticks, and some containers. Then we grabbed some latex gloves. Lastly, Gazzy insisted on grabbing a couple cans of spray paint.

Gazzy threw in a few remote control cars, which confused me, but I knew they were for the ambush. When I asked, he just shrugged and got a maniacal glint in his eyes.

We walked for the register, cart loaded with stuff.

As the cashier rang up our stuff, I smiled at her and explained, "Our families are going camping tomorrow, they told us to get some munchies," she nodded.

She made friendly conversation as the last of the stuff was rang up, and a moment later I had sent everyone but Iggy, me and Gazzy back to the camp, carrying the stuff. Iggy, Gazzy and I still had another store to hit.

We walked into the sporting store, and I lead us to the hunting gear. We were, in essence, hunting.

We grabbed a hunting knife for each of us, though hopefully it wouldn't be necessary to use it. We grabbed a few more blankets; hopefully we'd stay warmer that way.

We next wandered around the store, picking up anything Gazzy said we'd need. Every now and then, Iggy would throw something out there that we had forgotten. Gazzy grabbed several buckets of some unknown substance, and I didn't question it. I wanted them to build a big bomb, no matter what it entailed going into it. Once they had declared that we had everything we needed, (and I was SURE the store had to be just about empty) we left. We purchased an ostentatious piece of plywood, which made me nervous to carry, as it would be only too easy to follow us carrying this big thing. We were not followed.

Upon our return, I noticed that Fang, Nudge, and Angel hadn't just been sitting around the whole time, the area was piled high with firewood, and the shelter seemed much more stable than how I had left it.

Gazzy and Iggy immediately went to work, while the rest of us went to the lake site to further draw up plans. So far, the plans weren't every elaborate, as we weren't sure exactly what the store would have and wouldn't have.

When we got there, we began the first part of defense. We brought the box of garbage bags, and began to fill them with sand, about 3/4 of the way. We were making a barrier. We didn't know for certain, but it was a theory of Fang's that these bags should help to stop bullets.

In most of the war type movies we had seen, there were some form of this used. Normally the sandbags were mesh, but he didn't think that made much of a difference. If nothing else, we figured it would slow the bullets.

So, we spent the next several hours filling the bags with sand, and piling them about 3 feet high, and 3 feet thick. We made just enough room inside that we could all lay down inside and not be hit, but not so big so that it would be hard to conceal. Every time we found a rock, we set it in a separate pile, sure that we'd find some use for it. Total wasn't much use for this, as he was well aware of, and after just a short time, we knew he was feeling obsolete. He grumbled something about 'getting his paws dirty' and began to dig in the dirt, effectively making our jobs much easier once the soil was loosened.

We placed the bags on the opposite side of the lake that we planed to do the ambush on, as this would be where we'd hide.

When we had finished, we all headed back to camp, feeling ravenously hungry. We returned to see Iggy and Gazzy arguing about something, and we all took a seat around the fire, after grabbing some of the dry cereal that we had purchased earlier. Within a minute, as predicted, they dragged us into it.

Gazzy spoke first, trying to initially draw us to his side. "Here's how I see it. We don't want them showing up at the wrong time, right? So, if we just make a timer and build something big enough to take them all out, we won't have to worry about it. Right?" he asked.

I nodded, but turn to Iggy, knowing that he wouldn't be arguing making a big bomb if not for a good reason. "But, what if some don't get blown up? What if they're too spread out?" he asked. When no one responded, he continued, "So wouldn't it make sense to build a bomb similar in size to the one Gazzy wants, but also make sure that the Erasers gather in that area just before it goes off?"

Fang nodded first, and then Nudge piped in. "Sure. And how exactly do you plan on doing that?"

Iggy scratched his head. "The only thing I can think of is to place smaller bombs around the outside, drive them into the center a bit, where we'll really get them."

I frowned. "That didn't work out so well last time," I stated, remembering our first ambush at the construction site, where I was separated from everyone else.

Iggy scratched his head. "Yeah. I know. But for now that's all we've got," he said. "Well, all I've got."

"Keep thinking," I said, as my way of telling him that this plan still had a few too many holes. He nodded, whether he nodded to my underlying meaning, or what I said, I didn't know. "Well anyhow, we filled up the bags. I just want to test them, and see if they do work at all. So, tomorrow in the morning we'll try that," I said.

"Whose we?" Angel asked, looking up at me.

I took a breath and replied, "Fang and I."

She nodded, and her eyes blue eyes twinkled. She seemed to know exactly what had happened last time we were at the lake alone, something I never intended on her knowing. When I glanced at her again, she smiled a smile much too large to be anything good.

She leaned over to me, and put her lips right up to my ear. "I'm happy that you like Fang so much," she said, before she leaned away and flashed me an even bigger smile. I chocked on the piece of cereal I was eating, and coughed a couple of times. By the time I had looked back at her, she wasn't paying any attention to me.

I turned to Nudge, who was sitting right next to me, trying to decide whether or not she had heard me. She was looking at me with a curious expression, but she said nothing, again surprising me.

After a moment of my marveling at how much she had matured in the last half a year, I stood up, brushing my hands off on my jeans. "Dinner, Iggy?" I asked.

"Why thank you, my dear, but I'm quite sure that we aren't the only hungry ones," he said without skipping a beat, and grinning the whole time.

I rolled my eyes, "then I suggest you start on dinner."

"I feel so appreciated," he said dryly.

Gazzy chortled. "Believe me, bro, we do appreciate it. If you didn't cook, we'd have to eat the cardboard that she makes!" he said, jabbing his thumb at me.

I narrowed my eyes. "Keep in mind that I have no qualms about tickling you until you are forced to be for mercy," I stated. The bit of resonating fear that appeared in his eyes was slightly comforting, but I was not satisfied.

I lunged for him, hands at the ready. He was knocked backwards, and I landed on top of him, tickling him right where I knew he was most ticklish. He screamed out in laughter, his arms thrashing as he tried to shove me off. But I was not having that.

A moment or so later, when his face was red and he was nearly crying because he was laughing so hard, I have him his chance to get out. "Now Gazzy, am I really that bad of a cook?" I asked.

"Y-yes," he stuttered in between laughs, while gasping to catch is breath.

"Wrong answer," I laughed as I renewed the tickling. His laughter rang out again as I tickled him.

When his face was redder than ever before, I let up for a brief second so he could catch his breath. "Ok, ok," he wheezed. "Your cooking sucks, but you're good at other stuff."

"Like what?" I asked, knowing I was fishing for complements from an eight year old, who knew just as well as I did that if the complements weren't great I would tickle him again. Somehow, this fact did not bother me.

"You can fly fast!" he nearly shouted when I began to wiggle my fingers. I raised an eyebrow. "And you plan stuff out good! And, erm… you always kick Itex's butts!" I nodded in agreement to all of the statements, save the latter. I didn't always kick their butts. Realizing that Gazzy's leg still wasn't healed, I lifted myself off him slightly so as not to hurt it.

So he didn't catch that I was letting him off easy, to spare myself the guilt, I shook my head. "I forgot for a moment, you're not like Nudge, Angel and I. you can't think under pressure… because all you guys," I gestured to Fang and Iggy, "Think slowly because you have sub-par brain power. I'll give you time to think about your answer before I jump you again," I said, and hopped off him.

He sat up quickly and denied my statements, whilst Nudge and Angel proceeded to give me high fives as we ignored them. Several minutes later they were still protesting when I began to smell something horrid.

For several minutes I said nothing, but eventually even I couldn't stand the smell. "Gazzy, if that's you get out of here!" I shouted, joking with him, about the horrid smell.

He smiled innocently. "I did nothing. I'm to… sub par… to do anything to horrid, aren't I guys?" he asked Fang and Iggy. They nodded their agreement, though even they had their noses wrinkled.

A minute later, a second wave of fumes came at us. I rolled my eyes, and walked over to my pack. I grabbed the serrated hunting knife I had bought just earlier, and stormed over to a tree with green leafy branches. I sawed at a branch until it fell from the tree.

Glaring at Gazzy, playfully serious, I dragged the branch over to the fire and threw it on top. My hopes were that the smell from the fresh leaves would act as an air detergent.

The second the leaves caught fire, I knew I had been wrong. The smoke turned a darker color, and I felt my throat start to burn. Within a moment, my eyes were burning so bad they were watering.

"What is that?" Total shouted, pawing at his eyes.

Instinctively, I knew what it was from whatever I threw on the fire. "Get to the water guys! Come on!" I yelled. Everyone was already on their feet, so we began to stumble away, with Fang leading. I threw the buckets of water we had on the fire, extinguishing it as much as I could, and then chased after them. Along the way, I heard someone get sick. I couldn't see who it was, because my eyes weren't working properly because of whatever was in them.

We all were coughing by the time we reached the water. I lunged in, submerging myself in seconds. I heard a few more splashes from under water, and assumed my lead had been followed.

When I emerged, the coughing began. For several minutes, I coughed until I had no air left in me, then dragged air in through my damaged throat, then coughed until I had no air left again. I was hardly aware of my surroundings until I noticed Nudge, who was closest to the smoke, begin to throw up. I lurched over to her, and patted her back. It was useless to hold her hair back as it was short enough that it didn't get in her way anyway.

Several moments passed before we had all finished coughing or being sick.

"What the hell was that?!" Iggy said angrily, his voice abrasive.

"Must have been whatever Max threw on the fire," Fang said, and I knew immediately that he was right. As soon as the leaves caught fire and the smoke reached us, the coughing started.

This made me think. Was it just us who had a bad reaction to whatever was on these leaves, or was it everyone? Could this be exactly what we needed that could drive the Erasers into the center to blow them up? I thought a moment about how we could get the leaves to fire at the same time, but after a moment I figured Iggy could figure that out.

We soaked in the water a few more minutes before I decided it was time to go back to camp and see if it was ok now or if we'd have to abandon camp. "Alright guys, I'll be back in just a minute. I'm going to check out camp and see if the smoke has cleared up yet," I said.

"do you really think that's a good idea, Max? I mean, this smoke like, killed us. And you want to go back and see if it's all gone? How about we just wait a little longer, and then we can all go back and check it out?" Nudge said.

I nodded, conceding that she had a point, but also opening up for me to say mine. "Well we're probably going to have to check out all our stuff and make sure it doesn't make us sick being to close to it and all that, so I'm just going to go back and hold my breath," I said.

Gazzy snickered a bit. "So clear the way in case a charging bull comes running by… I mean, a charging Max," he grinned at me. I playfully narrowed my eyes and gave him a look that says 'I'm watching you!'

Hours later, it had been determined that it was something on the leaves (not the leaves themselves) that had that effect, because my hands, which touched the branch, had broken out in blisters and were burning. Any part of our body that had been to near the smoke also had blisters, though they were more spread out and smaller than those on my hands. The minute Iggy and Gazzy had figured this out, they went to work.

They decided that it would be… beneficial, to lay leaves in the sand in a large circle around a tent that would have a bomb in it. When the Erasers got inside the circle, we would light a fire that would burn the leaves that had some irritation substance on them. This would cause the Erasers to run either toward the tent (which we would then set off, causing a large explosion) or in the opposite direction where there would be smaller bombs that would also be triggered.

With this new inspiration, Iggy and Gazzy set to work. They opened a few tubs of something we had purchased at the store. It appeared to me to look just like salt, but I knew it couldn't be. The mixed the material from the buckets, along with coal and something else that smelled a great deal like matches.

When they finished mixing whatever it was with the paint sticks we had bought, it looked almost like if you touched it, it would be fluffy and fall apart on contact. Somehow, I didn't think that they had made some fluffy soft stuff for the Erasers. They had made some kind of explosive. We stored the powder as best we could, and then covered it so the rain wouldn't ruin it. Then Iggy and Gazzy set to work on something much more complex.

I couldn't tell for sure what they were doing, they had their backs to me, but I knew that they were up to something huge. They used various size and shaped pieces of steel. And when they were done, they VERY carefully placed whatever it was they had created on its side, facing away from us, and fairly far away from us. This told me it was very dangerous.

The rest of us had collected more of the tubers from the day before, and Angel and Fang went off to collect some berries, and were instructed NOT to eat any of them until they returned. Nudge and I collected even more fire wood, and Iggy later in the day sent us off to find a rock that made sparks when you scratched it with a knife.

We looked for several hours before we found a suitable rock. When we brought it back to camp, Iggy told me to do my best to shave it down to a cylinder size. Once I had done that (and gotten a fair few burns from sparks) he told me to cut little grooves running lengthwise.

I had no clue what he was having me do this for, but I didn't question it. At the end of the day, it was Iggy and Gazzy who knew how to plan this stuff best. Iggy and Gazzy finished moments before me, and they both came to watch my progress. When I finally finished, Iggy thanked me.

When I asked what he was going to use this for, his response was simple "Watch this."

He took his knife from his pocket, and tied his shoe string around it. He held on to the piece of flint- or what I assumed to be flint, as it sparked- and had Gazzy pull the string. The knife dragged across the flint, and produced a spark every time it went over one of the ridge I carved into the stone.

"Guess how we're going to light those leaves without getting ourselves sick?" he asked grinning at me.

A grin spread slowly over my face. "So we'll put this standing on its own, and pull the string from farther away?" I asked. He nodded.

"This was the first bomb able to be detonated from far away. Mostly just put in a box, and when the target opened the box, it pulled the string. About five pounds of black powder would blow up. Very effective. It's pretty much a modern lighter, without the gas." He explained. I nodded, wide eyed, in wonder of some of the ideas people could come up with when given the opportunity.

That night Nudge took her own watch. She took last watch and was thrilled about it, again. The next day we returned to town, and purchased rubber gloves, and doctor's masks so that the fumes from the leaves wouldn't affect us. Just as we were about to leave, we walked by something that caught my eye. Smelling salts.

They said that these smelling salts, when waved under someone's nose, would wake the person up, and make them alert. They weren't harmful, and didn't cause any known problems.

I picked up a box; curious as to if they worked. If they did, then they could prove invaluable should something go wrong. I decided to test them.

We checked out, and headed back to camp.

Upon our arrival, we tested several things. We all backed up and stayed away from the sand bag emergency shelter we had built, and Fang took out the Glock that I had lifted off those Erasers a few weeks ago. We decided to use that gun, as that was what the Erasers carried, as far as we knew.

I fired directly for where two sand bags met, and waited a second. We walked over towards the bags, and looked for a bullet. We didn't find a bullet near the front or back of the bags, so Fang rolled the bags on the top sideways. The bullet was embedded between the 2nd and 3rd layer of sand bags. The bags had effectively stopped the bullet.

Next we decided to test and see if the powdery substance Iggy and Gazzy had previously made worked. They informed us that it was black powder, the stuff inside bullets. We used only a tiny amount, not enough to do any damage at all, and set it on a flat rock. We edged the rock towards the fire with a stick. When the powder got close enough and a spark jumped to the powder, it ignited. It made only a small quick fire, but enough to verify that the powder worked.

Iggy wanted also to test out the things he had been working on earlier when his back was to me. He said he wasn't sure that they would work, but if they did then we had nothing to worry about. He said they were pretty much bombs that were designed to explode in only one direction. I didn't know how it was possible, but I trusted him enough to try it. He had made it a remote activated bomb, so all he had to do was flip a switch from up to 1/2 a mile away, and the bomb would start. This had been what the remote cars we bought in the store were for.

So, we set that up to be tested. We set the bomb on the widest part of the beach, facing the trees. Then we walked a 'safe' distance away: nearly a quarter of a mile. Gazzy held the remote. "You guys ready for this?" he asked.

We all nodded, ready to see this test fire. To see just how powerful of an explosion we could create to knock the Erasers down.

The resulting BOOM was loud enough to send birds flying from their safe perches at the tops of trees into the air for as far as the eye could see.

Iggy told us to wait a moment before we went over there, to make sure that everything that was going to explode had exploded.

When we walked over, the grin that stretched across all our faces couldn't be wiped off by much. The bomb materials were all facing the trees, just where we had pointed the 'direction bomb,' as Iggy and Gazzy called it. There were none behind the bomb; the sand was hardly even disturbed. In the target range, however, was a great deal of nails some stuck in the tree, others scattered over the ground.

Iggy sniffed the air dramatically. "I believe, my friends, that what I smell is the smell of freedom and triumph over Itex," he said.

"Now let's not get cocky," Gazzy started. "This smell is mere Erasers. Itex will smell even more horrid," he said before he burst into giggles.

I walked over to the trees, and seen that several trees had little shards of metal embedded into their trunk several inches deep. I turned away from the flock, to hide my enormous grin. I felt a bit sick that I was smiling as I seen how utterly we would annihilate the Erasers, but I knew that I wasn't the only one who felt it.

This demonstration showed us just how bad we were going to beat the Erasers.

**A/N Alright, guys. I've got no excuses for why this wasn't out on time, so I wont even bother. I hope you enjoyed it, even tho I made you all wait forever. **

**This was, yet another, filler. Sorta. If I made it so something happened, I'd have added another.... ohh maybe 4000 words to it. So I made an executive decision to just post another semi-filler. the next chapter, no worries, will be very.... un-fillerish. I will also do my best to NOT leave you with a cliffy (which I have been doing for a while now)**

**Please do me a return favor, and dig deeply into the kindness of your hearts and review. Last chappie I got 14 reviews on... and about 400 views.... bad odds. So please review and make my day and speed my writing along. Thanks!**


	44. Success

Chapter 43

Fang's pov

Iggy and Gazzy went to a town several miles north of where we were. We walked down the road until we came to exactly what we were looking for. A phone booth.

I nodded and increased our speed. When we reached the booth, I held the door for Gazzy and Iggy. We silently walked in, and from his pocket, Gazzy pulled a candy wrapper. He lifted the flap, and in small print was written 'this product produced and manufactured by Itex Corp. Questions? Comments? Call us.'

This was exactly what we intended on doing. Gazzy took a deep breath and dialed the number.

The phone was handed to me and it rang once before an automated voice picked up. From this it offered many options. Option number 6 was to talk to a 'faculty member.' I pressed option number six. The phone rang several more times before a lady answered with "This is Itex Corp. the largest domestic producer in the world. Please hold." and elevator music began to play before we could even insist on NOT holding.

A moment later, a different lady's voice filled the phones speaker. "Hello, How may I help you, today?" she asked, totally clueless that she was about to be many of the pawns associated with our plan.

Trying to speak with a deep and angry voice I said, "Does this company make the 'whose-'em' candy bar?!"

"Yes sir, we do," the lady said in an ever cool voice. I knew they did, as that was where I had gotten the number.

"Well, ma'am I just bit into one of your candy bars and found a SCREW," I nearly shouted, attempting to sound angry. I succeeded.

"Sir, are you sure about this?" she replied, not losing her cool.

"Of course I'm sure! I wouldn't be calling you if I wasn't sure! Ask my cheek, which I tore open! That's pretty sure too!"

"Yes sir, I'm very sorry about this. If you mail your complaint to the complaints department, which I have the number for, you with have a formal grievance filed. Would you like to write down this number?" she asked in a persuasive voice.

"No, I don't want to mail a complaint! I want compensation. I could have been seriously injured," I said angrily, not losing my façade.

"By mailing your formal grievance, you will receive full refunds for the product," she insisted.

"Well I'll have to see what my lawyer thinks about that as compensation," I coldly said. "Good day, ma'am," I finished, as if I was going to hang up.

"No sir! Let me transfer you to my superior. He is much better equipped to handle this type of compliant," she begged, and then she asked me to hold. I grunted, as if still angry, when really she was doing just what I wanted. I just had to work myself high enough in this calling system to get transferred to someone who knew about the Itex plants. And what occurred there.

Halfway through my conversation with the next pawn, the phone began to beep telling me to insert more coins. We hastily put more coins in, and continued on our way.

A few moments later we were transferred to the managers' superior. And then transferred again. Every time the story changed a bit, making it more serious so as to keep our claim moving up the chain of command.

Finally, I felt we were high enough in the command that the operator would know what was going on.

When he answered the phone with a bored voice, I changed my voice to one of hard violence. "Before you say one word, let me advise you sir that I am not to be bull-shitted. I know more about the company that you work for you that could possibly imagine," I began.

"Who is this?" he asked, sounding minutely less bored.

"This is one of the few people who can bring your corporate empire to its knees. I cannot stress upon you the importance of what you are to do right now," I half threatened. "You will transfer me to the director, or you will regret it."

"Who is this?" the man repeated with more stress in his voice.

I made a tisk-ing noise with my tongue. "Surely you know who this is… I'm sure my flock and our leader have been a topic of conversation as of late," I said, still sounding like a violent brutal beast, which is exactly what they made us out to be, I was sure.

"I don't know what you're talking about, mister," the man said. His voice was shaking a minuscule, telling me he did know.

"Oh, I'm quite sure you do. Now, I know just as well as you do that this is being monitored. Do you want it known that you had the opportunity to connect your superiors with a fugitive, and you didn't?" I asked, banking on the hope that this man did fear the company that he worked for.

"Give me a moment," he said resignedly. Another click that had become familiar, and then the phone rang for another brief moment.

A new voice answered, and the moment I heard the tell-tale click of the receiver being picked up, I began my tirade.

"My name is Fang. I am a member of the Flock. I suggest you record this, it really is invaluable," I said. I did my best to sound brutal and a fair bit cocky.

"I don't know who the flock is. What is the Flock?" the man asked, and I heard his breath on the receiver. His breathing was rather quick for a normal conversation. He was anxious.

"You know perfectly well who the Flock is. And we are currently 20 miles south of the phone booth that is making this call. I suggest you relay this message. We will be waiting." I made sure my voice sounded as if I was delivering a personal threat.

The man lost his composure. "If this is a farce we will find you, and you will suffer." He growled.

"If we didn't want you to find us, you wouldn't find us. We will be waiting. I suggest that you cancel any plans you have for the next several days; you will be busy. You will have a great deal of meetings to go to if you are half as important as you seem to be. I hope you have enjoyed your time with Itex, because it will soon be over. Itex will not have a single disease ridden, filth crawling, slime infested plant left to do harm to when we are through with you." I said in a loud voice before I slammed the phone down on the hook.

My breathing was a little heavy; I had let myself get a fair bit too involved with that last part. I let out a breath and grinned.

Iggy, Gazzy, and I high fived. "Those bastards are going down!" Iggy said in triumph. Gazzy fist pumped, nearly punching me in the confined area. We all were pumped, and I could feel the adrenaline running through my veins.

We all grinned as we flew back to the camp where the girls waited for us. When we landed, we didn't see them. Even knowing where they were, it was hard to spot them. I grinned briefly at how this had worked out. Perfectly.

When I got to where they were hiding, I crouched down and announced myself. Then I felt the ground until I felt a slight bump. The side of the board. I pried my fingers under it, and lifted it up, revealing a nearly square hole dug in the ground about 6 feet deep. Max and Nudge were sitting down and Angel was standing up.

"Don't land on the eggs!" Angel said frantically as I made to jump in. I nodded and moved over a foot or so. We had made eggs. They weren't for us. They weren't normal eggs.

Max had decided that we needed something to defend ourselves with, which would work at pretty much any range and wouldn't harm us. If the Erasers can't see us, they can't hurt us. So, on this logic, we came up with a way to blind them. We bought about 10 dozen eggs and used our knives to poke a small hole in the shell. We drained the egg out (it was our breakfast and lunch) and then filled the empty egg shells with glass shards from. If something went wrong, we just had to throw these eggs at the Erasers. They would break, releasing all the glass shards. We'd aim for the eyes. Once this glass was in there, there was no getting it out. It would make them have much poorer eyesight, if it didn't blind them.

Some of the eggs had broken or the egg inside hadn't come out right, so we only had about 75 eggs. But that was better than nothing. We all dropped into the dug-out hole in the ground. I slipped the board back over our heads, making sure that it was propped up only slightly, enough so that we could see. A few rocks were under the edge of the board, holding it up just enough that our eyes could see out. No more than that was visible.

From this point we waited. Every hour or so we would flip the rocks over that were on the ground. The rocks that we had found when we made sandbags (which were piled along the edge of the dug out, and along the top part on the board so that even if they seen us and shot, the bullets wouldn't hit us) we had heated near a fire. When they were scalding hot, we dumped them inside here, on the ground. A few hours later, they were still warm enough to make our hole warm enough to be called comfortable.

As I sat on the ground, I fiddled with the remote detonators. We had this set up to work perfectly, but we through we had the last few tries. This time, though, we had spent nearly a week with preparations. It would work. It had to work.

We sat stiffly all through the night, waiting. We didn't speak much; we were all wound so tight that if a stick were to break we'd all probably jump. For this reason, Max and I didn't have our guns in our laps. They were right next to us, with the safety on. We couldn't panic and shoot this way. I felt that it was a rather stupid idea, as a gun that wouldn't shoot was a worthless gun, but I stuck with her plan.

The morning sun began to peak over the horizon. Max whispered that we could have some of the granola bars, if we were hungry. We all grabbed one of our boxes and carefully opened them to make sure that they made as little noise as possible. At this point, Angel voiced that she needed to use the bathroom.

Max nodded slowly. She told us all to stop moving, and then had Iggy listen for any noise at all. When he heard nothing unusual, she told Angel to hurry. Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy all ran our, while Max and I watched for any movement other than them. They finished, and ran back inside the hole. Then Iggy and I ran out really quick and used the bathroom. Finally, Max and Total went. It had been hours since we had left the cramped hole, so all of our muscles were sore and all of us needed a break. The last thing we were thinking about was how full our bladders were, until Angel mentioned her need to use one.

She climbed back into the hole, carrying Total, and pulled the board down, covering us from sight. I felt myself relax once we were all inside, though I hadn't known I was tenser than I had been for the last few hours.

Sometime before noon, Iggy held up his finger and told us to be quiet. We all instantly silenced, and Iggy nodded and pointed to the guns.

I carefully picked mine up and took the safety off, and picked up several of the remote detonators.

Max grabbed the string and pulled it, twice, before Iggy nodded and we waited a brief moment. Max put her painting mask on, one meant to keep out the fumes of paint, and we all followed her example. A moment later we saw a slight flicker in the tent. The fire had started. In about 2 minutes the fumes of the poison oak would fill the air around the tent.

Just as we were all set up for the Erasers, I began to hear a slight stirring in the woods too. The animals seemed to go silent and I saw several flocks of birds fly into the air and fly away.

Soon enough, we saw the first of the Erasers enter the beach area. They entered from just where we expected them too, the direction of the town. Even if they hadn't, though, it still would have worked out. Erasers seemed to pour from the woods, until what had to be 300 of them were on the beach side.

One Eraser seemed to be the leader. He was at the head of an arrow point formation. He held up his hand in a tight fist, and all the Erasers behind him halted. They crouched down, and then he waved to fingers forward and held up another finger. Everyone seemed to understand as they slowly stalked forward towards the decoy that we had set.

They surrounded the makeshift 'tent' that we had made. All of them drew their guns and pointed at the tent. The Eraser who seemed to be in charge held up his fist again, still making extremely little noise, and walked around to what we had designed to appear like the front of the tent. The small campfire inside seemed to draw their attention rather quickly.

The leader pointed to an Eraser and motioned for him to approach the tent. The Eraser came to the front of the tent, and the leader pointed to the flap on the front of the tent, and motioned with his hand as if he was pulling the curtain apart.

The Eraser pulled the flap opened and began to cough. Apparently the flame had reached the poison oak leaves we had so carefully collected. Our experience with them had not gone to waste; they did their job exactly. Several of the Erasers closest to the front began to cough and gag.

The head honcho seemed to be angered by this, and even from this distance we could see his abdomen heaving, though his face showed no sign of it. He marched right into the tent with the horrid fumes, and straight for the blanket that seemed to conceal a body.

Max looked at me and nodded. This had gone even better than we planned. We never expected the leader to lift the blanket.

We all ducted down, and just as we did a massive wave of solid air seemed to hit us, even below ground. After the wave passed, the sound of an explosion reached us. We lifted our heads despite the sound. The blanket had been the switch for a bomb bigger than any Iggy or Gazzy had ever built before. It had a trigger that was set off similar to how grenades detonated once the pin was pulled. A little knob on top was held down by the weight of multiple blankets and the second the blankets were removed by the lead Eraser, the bomb went off.

The tent was on fire and all of the Erasers inside the primary target zone were dead. I nodded to everyone, and we prepared ourselves to flip the switches. It took the Erasers a moment to realize that not only was their leader dead along with about a third of their men, but we weren't even in the tent. They began to scramble around like ants when their nest is kicked over.

As they made to run for the woods, we flipped the switches.

The sound wasn't the loudest thing we'd heard, but the sight that followed was probably the bloodiest we'd seen. The directional bombs had been activated by the switches. The directional bombs were all aimed towards the center of the circle, and took out everything in front of them for a good 120 feet. Everything on either side in a 180 degree line was damaged as the nails flew out at speeds we had no way to measure. The Erasers were pummeled with nails flying fast enough to pierce even the toughest armor. They sank into their flesh, and the majority of the Erasers dropped to the ground with blood and gore spilling from them.

A select few Erasers had been spared because of their position in the formation of the Erasers that kept them concealed from each side to the point where very little of the nails and other trajectory from the directional bombs had hit them.

They began to look around, knowing that we were relatively close if we had made those bombs detonate.

The Erasers looked around, seeming to feel very little for their fallen Erasers, seeming to feel only anger for us. I looked to Max and she grimaced. She knew what I was thinking.

We had no more bombs set up. We had known all along that we might have to do this, but we didn't want to.

"I'll go first," I said. I took a deep breath as I aimed the Glock from our tiny crack that we could see from. I pulled the trigger, and the first bullet missed its mark. I cursed, and emptied the rest of the 8 bullet clip. Six Erasers fell.

I ducked down, and Max took my spot. I reloaded my magazine as fast as I could with my slightly shaking hands, and I heard her gun go off above me. Her Ruger fired only 3 times before I heard return fire. She dropped down next to me, and it took me only a moment to assess that she was not hurt. She stuck her gun back out the crack, and slowly raised her head enough that she could see.

The Erasers were still firing, but they had not yet found exactly where we were. They knew simply that we were firing from this direction.

After 3 more Erasers fell from her shots, they finally realized that we were hiding very close to the ground. Her next shot seemed to tell them exactly where we were.

"Eggs! Eggs, guys! Now!" she said somewhat frantically. We all grabbed some eggs, and as the Erasers came closer, several of them ran out of bullets in their clips. The others still kept shooting, but only a small amount of bullets, because they were running low too. Finally, they all got close enough that we began to pelt them with eggs. They stopped firing and began to dance around, dodging the eggs.

The first few they dodged, until they realized that they were simply eggs. Then they began to stop dodging them and raise there guns to shot at us again.

We hit our target, and the Erasers screamed out. With every blink he damaged his eyes even further. By this point we had hit several more Erasers right in the eyes or near the face.

Only a few remained undamaged. As they took off running to retreat, Max's gun boomed next to me. The Erasers fell to the ground, dead.

We waited a moment as we assessed the situation and made sure that every Eraser was dead. Then we flipped the top off our little dug-out and grabbed all the eggs from inside it. It was too risky to carry them, in case they broke, so we just dropped the around the tent, hoping that new Erasers would come along soon enough and break them into their feet.

We grabbed all the bullets we could find on the Erasers for the Glock, and picked up one extra Glock. My backpack was heavy with the bullets. We would sort them later.

Then we covered our hole, and took off. We did not want to be there when the next Erasers showed up.

We flew as fast as we could, with the exception of Max as she didn't use her super speed, and were exhausted fairly quickly. We flew north, hoping to enter into Canada before we stopped as we assumed that we would be less notorious there. We flew for about 4 and a half hours, so somewhere in the whereabouts of 400 miles.

The first decent sized town we came to we stopped at and found a multi-floored hotel to stay in. We got two rooms, one for the boys and one for the girls, and hurried to our rooms. Max immediately jumped in the shower, claiming that she just felt dirty. I knew she really just wanted to get the feeling of shooting that gun off of her. I felt the same way. I waited until she was out of the shower, and then I went to my room and took a long shower.

When I got out, I felt better. Max had told us to buy a movie on the on-demand. We watched a movie for about 2 hours, and then Max insisted that we all take showers if we hadn't already.

After everyone had taken a shower, it was dinner time. Max order room service. When the food came, we devoured the food like animals. Good thing we partially were, so we had an excuse.

Slowly, one by one, we all nodded off to sleep. We hadn't slept properly in at least two days, so we welcomed the giddiness of sleep without hesitation.

**A/N Hey all. here is that chappie that i promised for like..... 3 chappies. the action one! Read and review please. **

**CREDITSSSSS Miz636 edited this thing (very quickly, might I add) Thanks Miz! and all the credit for bombs, guns, all that usefull shit is from Blackhawk. He does like... all my exploseive shit. all of it. thank you to him. **


	45. Disaster Strikes

Disaster Strikes

Max's pov

My eyes popped open and I got that feeling of instant awareness that comes from being woken by a sudden sound. Out of habit, I looked around without moving my head, and saw a slight sliver of light stretch across the floor for a brief second. When I saw the shadow, I closed my eyes again.

Taking a deep and quite breath, I waited until the footsteps got closer before I was ready to make my move. As of right now, I was pretty sure this person thought I was sleeping, which gave me the edge and was the only reason I hadn't shouted to the rest of the flock yet.

"Don't shoot," I heard calmly. Fang.

I breathed out, and closed my eyes. He had come from the adjoining room. Hadn't I locked that door?

"How did you get in?" I asked as I sat up and stretched.

"Iggy," he replied.

Of course. Iggy. "Well what do you want?" I asked, not snottily, simply curiously. Which was 100% safe for me, because I was part bird, not part cat. Curiosity killed the cat and all that.

He shrugged. His face was facing away from the light, so it was covered in shadow. I could see only his outline and very few of his features. So I couldn't know what he was thinking.

I nodded. "Hand me my socks," I said and pointed to the floor at the end of my bed. He grabbed them and tossed them to me. I put them on and stood up. My jeans from yesterday were still on. I always slept in them.

"We gonna walk?" I asked him, heading for the door before he answered.

"If that's what you want," he answered. I rolled my eyes. Frickin' wake me up in the middle of the night, boy, and you'd better have a good reason!

We walked down the steps, and out into the lobby. The lady behind the desk gave us a suspicious look as we left, but we paid no mind. It was, after all, after dark and two teenagers leaving may look suspicious.

We got out onto the streets, and immediately remembered we were in Canada, and Canada was a cold place at night, even if it was late summer. Fang had grabbed my hand before we left our rooms, and we walked along not talking very much. I was sure to pay attention to street signs as we left, so as to make sure that we didn't get hopelessly twisted around and have to fly up to see where we were.

We came to a gate, after a while, with gothic like gates surrounding it. I looked over to Fang, and he nodded to me. I looked up and decided it wasn't worth flying over, it would be better to just climb so we didn't have to worry about getting seen. So Fang and I climbed over the gate, which wasn't all that high, and landed on the grass below.

We walked for a few more moments, speaking occasionally, until I came to a part of the park where there were no trees overhead. The stars were clearer than I'd seen since we were in Antarctica. I had missed the stars.

I sat cross legged and leaned back onto my hands, and Fang followed my example. After a few moments of easy conversation, my wrists began to hurt. I sat up, and rubbed my wrists, getting the circulation back into them. In the moonlight, I saw the faint outline of the scar from a surgery my mom had done. It was strange seeing it, even though it had been there for a few weeks. I had gone to Itex, and to mess with my mind they removed all my scars somehow, to make me think it was all just a dream. But lately the scars had come back. I hoped that I wouldn't lose the ability to move my hand (the surgery in which I got the scar demobilized my hand, until Itex fixed it). I rubbed the light scar absentmindedly and looked over to Fang, who was glaring at my wrist.

I let go of my wrist and shoved it into my pocket, hiding it. He frowned and pulled me into him so I was leaning against his chest, and then he laid back. My head rested on his chest for a few moments, and I could hear our heart beating our usual speed, but pretty rapidly. He ran his hands through my hair, which was, for the first time in a while, clean and not in tangles. We laid in silence, not saying too much of importance.

Slowly, though, the conversation evolved. We began asking deeper questions. It was one of those questions that fit perfectly into the conversation, but you had no idea how you'd gotten to that point. A simple question, but a very important answer.

We had been talking about what we were going to do for our promised week of vacation. I argued that we probably wouldn't get a week, being that we tended to get found before we were somewhere for a week.

"How long, do you think, until they stop coming for us?" Fang asked me. I closed my eyes.

"I don't know. They just seem to be sending smarter Erasers. Not more or less. The Erasers aren't slowing, at all," I responded.

He nodded. "I think, once we go back, we should still slow it down a bit."

"The last one did go well," I said. Thinking about it, it had gone even better than expected. None of us were hurt, at all. We were all fine. More than we could say for them. I liked the change of events.

Thinking about it gave the goose bumps to me, and I shivered slightly from the night air and the topic of conversation. Fang shifted me, so I was on my side and I curled slightly into him, enjoying his warmth that he always carried with him. He grabbed my hands and rubbed his hands quickly over them, warming them. I smiled up to him.

"Anything else cold?" he asked with an impish grin.

I smiled mischievously, and decided to do away with my creativity. I'd follow the set up he had put into place. I pointed to my forehead, "right here," I said. He kissed me right on the forehead. "And right here, and here," I said, pointing to my cheeks. He kissed my cheeks, and then asked,

"Anywhere else?" while looking right at my lips.

"Just one more place," I said. And I pointed to my lips. He smiled a real smile that nearly took my breath away, had it not been for the cold already doing so, and leaned down to kiss me.

It had been seemingly forever since we last kissed, and with all the stress we'd been under, it hadn't been a great kiss anyway. This kiss though, was amazing.

Wildfire seemed to burn my body, burning me from the inside out. He pulled me closer to him as the kiss deepened. In a matter of moments the kiss had deepened more than any other kiss.

Somewhere in my mind I knew that we were in a public place (although it was closed) and we probably shouldn't be doing this. But that part was very small. The rest of my body overcame that part, and every pore in my body seemed to be fully aware.

Fang slid his hands up the back of my shirt, so they were on my bare back, and began to pull me even closer. After a moment, I resituated, so my legs were on each side of Fang's lap.

When Fang and I both were panting, we pulled back. He turned his head, so I could feet his lips on my cheek, parted slightly. He was smiling, amid the heavy breathing. It was only then that I realized how warm I was and how his hands were resting on the middle of my back. His hands moved gently over my back, despite his rough skin.

I moved myself off of him, wondering how it was that I ending up all but laying on top of him. He took his hands off my back, and pulled my head onto his chest.

His arm was under my neck, making my head on his chest comfortable, and his hand was playing with my hair. He ran his fingers up and down my bare arms that were exposed by my short sleeved shirt, drawing random patterns. Chills crawled up my arm with every pass he made. I chalked it up to being cold and scooted closer to him. He wrapped his other arm around me, encircling me in his warmth

After a long while, Fang shifted his arm that was under my neck, telling me that he was uncomfortable. I lifted up my head, and pulled it off his chest, releasing his arm from under my neck. I rolled my neck, and he stretched. Then he grinned at me, and laid his head on my chest.

I tensed at the unexpected contact, and lifted my arms to push his head away from that certain area.

"You had your head on my chest!" He protested in such a voice that I knew he knew that he was getting away with something he normally wouldn't.

"Fine," I begrudged.

We lay in that position for only a few moments before we began kissing again. The next few hours were spent in a similar fashion, kissing or laying on each other and talking.

It had been weeks, if not months, since we last got to spend that much time together and not feel like we were letting the kids down. We made the most of our time together.

Eventually, we saw the beginning of the sun peaking over the horizon, and decided we had better head back to the hotel before anyone woke up. He stood up and pulled me to my feet, but didn't let go of my hand. We hopped the fence to get back out, and that was the only time we let go of each other's hands.

When we walked back in, the lady at the front desk gave us dirty looks when she noticed our holding hands. I tried to pull my hand away, but Fang held on tighter.

The lady's eyes widened and I looked down, half expecting to see Fang's handprints on me because of how she was looking at me. I noticed none, and assumed that she was just shocked at how long we were gone. I tried not to feel self conscious about anything, and walked toward the stairs hand in hand with Fang.

We reached the staircase, and Fang held the door open, waving me forward. I walked in ahead of him, and a second later I heard the door close behind me. At just about that same time, Fang's hands were on my hips and pushing me towards the wall behind me.

His lips were on mine in a second, rougher than they had been all night. His hands trailed up my sides, finally finding their place on the back of my neck, holding me close to him. He let his teeth brush my lips, and I parted them to give him easier access. My hands trailed up his back, over his wings, and into his hair. I wrapped my fingers in it, enjoying its thickness. I pulled it gently, trying to figure out his reaction. He paused for a moment, before coming back at me with all his previous vigor.

After a moment, when we were both out of breath, he pulled away slightly. He rested his head on my collar bone, having to bend down slightly to do so.

"What was that for?" I asked, not really caring why he felt the need to do that. It had been one of the best kisses of my life.

"I don't know when we'll have another minute alone, and I needed to do that," he replied, his voice far rougher and shallower than his words.

"Needed?" I said doubtfully, letting him know that I knew he merely wanted to do that, not needed too.

He grinded his hips into mine, and I felt something that told me maybe he had needed to do that one more time. I smiled, feeling bad about the happiness that I felt from that. Turning my face away from his so he couldn't see the blush that spread over my face.

"Sorry," he said, seeming to realize that I was feeling rather awkward.

"It's not your fault," I said, still feeling somewhat strange.

"It's yours," he teased, smirking at my discomfort as he pulled away from me, and grabbed my hand. We raced up the stairs, and came out on our floor.

When I reached my door, I leaned my back against it. Something inside of me felt different. I was different. Whatever Fang and I had was different. Somewhere over the course of the night, something between us had changed. I could see it in Fang's eyes. He knew something was different, too. I wasn't sure whether or not it was a good thing; I knew simply that it had just gotten more serious. More painful, or more rewarding. There was no way to tell yet.

Just as I went to open my door, he whispered, "One more time," And kissed me much more gently than before. It lasted a brief moment, then he whispered "See you in a few," before he walked into his room.

I took a deep breath and walked into the room. Nudge opened her eyes a tiny slit, looked at me, and then closed them.

I laid down just as I had been when Fang had woken me up hours before. I hadn't been lying down for an hour before I felt Angel begin to kick next to me. She groaned and stretched, and I heard her roll over.

"Max? Are you awake yet?" She asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah, I have been for a while. Why?"

"Where did you go last night? I woke up and you weren't here, and you weren't in the bathroom. Nudge saw you leave, though, so she told me it was ok," Angel asked, and I could hear a few emotions in her voice. A bit of fear at my absence, and excitement at what I had done last night.

I decided to go with the truth about what I had done. "Fang and I went for a walk to talk about some things."

"Oh." She said. After a long pause she asked, "Is everything okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah it's all fine. How about you go wake all the boys up, and I'll get Nudge?" I asked her. Nudge was by far the worst to wake up, so I had gotten the short end of that stick. But I was okay with that.

"Hey, honey, time to get up," I said as I put my hands on her shoulders. "Nudge, it's morning. We are going to get breakfast soon." I began to massage her shoulders to get her up faster.

She took a deep breath and mumbled, "gah is fer brewkfass?"

I smiled. Still the same sleepy Nudge, even if she had matured. "We are going to order some room service. Whatever you want," I answered. "Now are you awake?" I asked her, knowing she would be because of my pronouncement.

"Wide awake," she said, sitting up. Her eyes still were not even half way open and she sure as heck wasn't wide awake, but she wouldn't be falling back to sleep.

For that matter, I wasn't very awake either. I hadn't slept all night, and I couldn't remember the last time I got a good night's sleep.

Eventually the boys gathered in our room, and I told them to order room service, whatever they wanted. However much they wanted. We were gonna be out of here in a few hours. I told them that someone had to shower while we waited for our food, and we'd all have to do that, just so we didn't show up at my mom's stinking.

When I said that last part, squeals of joy pierced my ears. They missed her hospitality. Gazzy volunteered to shower first and I decided it was high time I called my mom. i kicked my shoes off as I walked to the backpack. I dug through my backpack until I found her number, at which point I picked up the phone and called her.

Our conversation was brief, I just told her I was okay and that we all were fine. I told her I'd be seeing her 'soon' (in case the line was tapped) and that we all missed her. I told her to tell Ella that my hair hadn't been properly brushed in weeks and was snarled and would need some major attention. At this my mother laughed, knowing just as well as I did that Ella was going to attack my hair the moment I walked into the house.

The conversation ended shortly after, and a moment later, our food showed up. I had ordered the food so it went to both of our adjoining rooms separately (it looked like less food when it didn't all go to one room). The connecting doors were opened, but I still felt like it seemed like less food that way.

So I called out "One moment!" and bounded to the door to let the food in. I skidded to a halt and looked out the peep hole to make sure it was room service.

I saw a silver cart with a white cloth draped over it, and a man hunched down getting something from under the car. The man was wearing black pants and a white hotel issued shirt.

This was our food! I unlocked the double bolted door, and reached out to twist the handle when something happened.

Still looking out the peephole, I saw how it happened. From just outside of the view provided by the peephole, Erasers, fully transformed, flooded into the doorway.

As I cried out to get ready, I reached down to lock the door. It wouldn't stop them, but it might hold them up for a moment. But I was too slow. The door flew open, smacking me in the nose. In an instant, I was knocked off my feet. My mouth flooded with blood, and I couldn't breathe from all the blood going into my lungs from my broken nose.

I looked up and through my bleary vision. I saw only one possible way for us to get out of this. We had to get the gun.

I hopped to my feet, and tried to run for the other side of the room. It was in my backpack, probably now buried on the bottom because of my careless digging for my mom's phone number.

I heard the struggling going on in the room next to us, too. The boys were in trouble, too. I heard a girl's scream, one that could have come only from Angel because of its obvious youthfulness.

I ripped open the backpack, and hadn't even pulled out the shirt that was on top before I was ripped away from the backpack. I tried to hold on, but I couldn't. The backpack was ripped from my hands. I kicked and punched wildly, doing everything I could to get out of their grasp. It was a futile attempt.

I saw myself getting dragged further from the gun, from our only hope, and closer to the desolate hell that we had only just escaped from time after time.

**A/N Ok. I'm sorry for any dissappointment about the last chapter, or this one. I was inspired by the beginning of this chapter by some recent stuff in my life, but it isn't really Fang like. but everyone is bitching about wanting more fax.... they'll be freezing and starving and everyone will want them to be screwing. Not in my story. But I did try to include some Fax in this for all you fax lovers. Enjoy it, as it may be the last to come for a while (as you can probably tell by the ending of this chapter....).**

**Anyhow, read and review, please**

**Miz636 Edited, so a lot of credit goes to her. Try reading her story, Old and New Collide. it's good!**


	46. Blackness

Blackness

Max's pov

The first thing that I became aware of was a sickly sweet smell. One that I knew, but not well. I tried to open my eyes, but for some reason, I couldn't remember how. I felt muscles twitching, but I didn't know where.

For what seemed like the longest time I was disoriented, before I finally gained lucidity and realized that I was sitting. I eventually opened my eyes, and was confused. I could see nothing. Only blackness.

For a moment I panicked, knowing that something was wrong. I moved my neck to rub my face on my knee, which was curled into me, when I felt a burning pain rip through my body. I stopped moving, and the pain decreased. It didn't vanish, no, the pain was still there, just muted slightly.

I bit down hard, clenching my jaw against the pain, and that's when I noticed that I had something in my mouth. I moved my tongue a bit, and tasted cloth. I pulled my knees up, with great pain, and leaned forward, rubbing my mouth on them. The cloth was tied tightly, so this process had little effect on it. I moved my face downwards, so my eyes were rubbing my knee. The cloth over my eyes peeled off.

I immediately took stock of my surroundings. I was in a cookie- cutter bathroom. Nothing that gave me a clue as to where I was. I took a deep breath, and noticed a constriction around my chest. I looked down, and seen duct tape.

My wings had been duct taped to my back. I noticed that my ankles were bound, also using duct tape. I assumed that was the same thing that bound my wrists behind my back.

I listened hard, trying to hear if there was any movement outside the bathroom. I heard voices. Voices that were rougher than sandpaper right now, but could turn smoother than honey at the drop of a dime. Voices meant to persuade people to do what they wanted with their charm. Erasers were gathered outside my room. I couldn't very well hear what they were saying, but I knew that it wasn't good. I began to pull my arms and legs apart, hoping to rip the duct tape.

After only a few tries, I knew it was useless. I wasn't strong enough even if I wasn't hurt. And somehow I was very hurt. I didn't remember anything about how I'd gotten here, other than we were in a hotel when it happened. We were going to leave, in about an hour we'd have left, but they got here before we got the chance. That was all I knew.

I looked around the bathroom for any alternate way to get out. I saw nothing sharp enough that I would be able to reach. Saw nothing at all. I had resigned myself to pulling until I couldn't pull anymore, or these ties broke, when I seen a possible way.

A razor sat on the bathtub ledge, hidden by the curtain that my struggling had moved out of the way. The razor was a pink razor, a ladies razor, and had only two blades. But it was better than nothing. It was on the side of the bathtub by my feet, so I lifted both my legs and knocked it into the tub.

It made a slight noise, but one I was almost sure the Erasers wouldn't hear. I didn't pause to see if they had, I didn't have time. I tried to lift myself, but struggled greatly.

I lifted my knees up and pulled them close to me and rotated around in the bath tub, so my hands were at the side with the razor. I felt around for it, and when I found it, I picked it up. I tried to run the blades over the tape, but it didn't do anything. So I realized that I would have to do something else.

I closed my eyes, and took the blade part of the razor in my hand. Then I slammed that part down on the bathtub. It made a thud noise, but the Erasers didn't seem to notice. I felt for the blade, and found it to still be attached to the razor. With a slight grunt, I slammed the razor down again. This time the blade came free.

But this time the Erasers heard it. The talking ceased, and the door opened toe the bathroom. I dropped my neck and relaxed my legs. I looked as if I was passed out. The Eraser stared at me for a moment, before deciding I was sleeping and leaving the bathroom, closing the door tightly. The click when it shut told me it was locked. Locked from the inside, so I couldn't escape. But I'd get to that later.

As soon as the door closed, I felt around for the blade. As I picked it up, I felt it nick my finger, cutting it slightly. After a few more attempts, and a few more cuts, I managed to pick up the razor blade from the bottom of the tub. The way my wrists were taped behind my back, my wrists left a small gap right at the top of the tape, where my arms wouldn't bend enough to put them together touching. So I began to saw at the tape there with the razor. After a few tries, I realized that the blade was on my finger, and the dull side was what I was trying to cut with. The blood that ran from the tips of my fingers made the blade stick to my fingers, slightly. I declared this a good thing, as it meant that I couldn't easily drop the blade.

After a few tries, I found where the tape was binding my wrist. I sawed at it the best I could, but it was hard to get a grip on the short blade. I had to twist my wrist to the point where I was sure my bones would break and the skin would be ripped from my muscles because of how hard the tape pulled at it. Finally I heard a slight sound that told me that I had managed to cut the tape. I continued trying to cut in those same places, but without seeing, it was hard to know if I succeed.

After a few minutes, I figured that I was close to being done. I pushed as hard as I could, and made one final cut. I felt the blade cut through the tape, and into my wrist. The blood instantly warmed my skin, but the tape was cut. I pulled it off my skin, on my un-cut hand first. Then I brought my hands in front of me. I ripped the tape from my wrist on my injured hand, and looked at my wrist. I had cut it on the outside side of my wrist, so it was nothing to worry greatly about. I had bigger problems.

I pulled the cloth from my mouth and opened and shut my jaw a few times, feeling how wonderful it felt. Then I used the razor to saw through the duct tape on my ankles. That took mere seconds now that I could see. I cut through the tape, and ripped that from my skin. Then I stood up slowly, and felt woozy. The blood rushed from my head, and it took a few minutes for me to regain my balance. Once I had, I walked to the door.

I tired the handle, and it wouldn't open; as I figured when I heard the lock click. I nodded my head. I had only one option then. I vaguely remembered Angel screaming, and I knew that I wasn't the only flock member in trouble. I had to get out.

So I coughed, trying to sound weak, then sputtered for a second. Again, I heard noise outside my room cease. Then I scrambled to get behind the door, and grabbed both razor blades. I wasn't sure what good they'd do me, but I was sure that I'd need all the help I could get.

The door slowly opened, and I tensed my body, ready for a fight. When I was opened enough that the Eraser stuck his head inside, I struck. I kicked the door, slamming it shut with the Erasers neck in the doorway. A distinct snapping told me that his neck had broken. One eraser down, many more to go.

I jumped out from behind the door, knowing they'd try to force it open to crush me. I was right. They kicked the door open, and as soon as I could see a target I went for it.

I swung my arms, swinging the blade at his neck. The blood spurted out, a force renewed with every last beat of his heart. I kicked him down, opened up another Eraser. As of right now, I had an advantage. Only one Eraser was able to come at me at a time, because of the narrow doorway.

I tried the same move on this Eraser, but he was ready, after having watched the Eraser before him fall. He threw his arm down on top of mine, nearly jarring the blade free with the force he put into it and knocking my arm to the side. I used the force he put into my spin to my advantage, and spun around so my backside was to him. I threw my hips backwards into his groin, hitting a sensitive part. He doubled over, and I grabbed the back of his head and smashed it into the sink. He sank to the ground, and I stomped on the back of his neck, assuring that he was dead.

The next Eraser was up before the preceding one had hit the ground. He came in with his hand in a fist. I didn't worry about what was in his hand, knowing it was nothing good. So I raised my arm behind my head, and swung it down onto his shoulder, jamming the razor into his shoulder. He grunted, but grinned at me.

"Tinkey wants to fight," he said. Then he opened his fist and blew onto it, as if blowing me a kiss. But white powder flew from his hand, and coated me. I felt nothing, so again I ignored it. I threw a kick at him, and as he was hit with it, he spat on me. Instantly, where his spit hit me, it burned. When the powder and spit mixed, it created pain.

I reacted on instinct, dropping one of the razors and trying desperately to wipe the powder from my face, where it burned the worst. He took advantage of this, and punched me square in the nose.

Once again my nose seemed to break. Blood again ran down my throat from my nose, and once again my vision was distorted. I stumbled back a step and tripped over something behind me. I fell into the bathtub, smacking my head on the wall as I went. I grabbed the curtain and wiped my face on it. The burning lessoned, but didn't go away.

I regained enough of my sense to know that I had to get up. I threw the curtain on the advancing Eraser, and it landed over his head. I jumped up, and before he could pull the curtain off, I wrapped my hands around the back of his neck, and smashed his head onto the sink. As he fell limply to the ground, I dragged the blade across his neck. Sealed his fate.

I felt a hard pounding on my back, and recognized that feeling as one of when an Eraser drops his fist onto you back, paralyzing you for a brief moment. I dropped the only remaining razor blade I had.

I scrambled to pick it up, and then rolled over, and caught sight of the Eraser standing over me. I sat up and slicked the tendon behind his knee, knocking him to the ground. Before he had a chance to hit me, I dragged the blade across his neck, killing him.

When I looked up to see how many were still there to hurt me, I seen two Erasers coming for me. I kicked my leg out, knocking one the ground as I tried to stand up. The other Eraser forced me down, kicking me right in the chest. Wind rushed from my lungs, and I curled up instinctively.

Both Erasers re-gained movement before me. They stood up, and dragged me from the bathroom. I reached my legs around the doorway, locking them inside the bathroom, so as not to be dragged from it. I slashed wildly with the blade, but never found a target. The Erasers tugged at me, finally pulling me from the bathroom, and dropped me in the main room.

They all took turns kicking me, punching me, anything. I knew that I couldn't take this forever, so I had little time before any strength not yet taken by pain had disappeared.

When one lifted his leg to kick me, I rolled into the kick, shocking him and taking him off guard. My body collided with his one leg on the ground. He fell off balance and fell down, landing with his legs on top of me. I jumped up, and as I raced for the door, I cut the throats of two Erasers who got in my way, before they had time to defend themselves.

I felt no disgust with myself for doing it, nothing. I felt nothing but the raw need to get out of this room, and find my flock. I knew right then that I'd do anything to get out of here.

I reached the door and tugged at the handle, but it was locked. I grabbed the chain that bolted it shut, and yanked. The chain didn't budge, so I pulled as hard as I could. It ripped from the wall, and I threw the door open. As I backed up enough for the door to open, a shot rang out.

Fire seemed to burn through my arm, stabbing me and twisting. I didn't let that stop me, as I raced for a destination that I didn't yet know.

I made it halfway down the hallway before more gun shots pierced the air. I leapt to the side of the hallway, and ran in a zigzag pattern, hoping to avoid the bullets that raced down the hallway at me.

At the very end of the hallway, I heard sounds of a struggle coming from the room. I put all my power into kicking the door in, hoping I'd find something that would help me, and hoping that I'd find someone from my flock.

Several faces turned towards me, and I seen the astonished and nearly unrecognizable face of Gazzy staring back at me. His eyes were wide, but swollen nearly shut. Blood was running from most of his facial features. He had been beaten to all hell. It was clear that he was happy to see me, thinking that I was here to help him. His lack of focus cost him. The Eraser regained focus just before Gazzy, and threw a hard punch at him. Gazzy's neck snapped to the side, and he let out a grunt. I raced into the room to help him, and didn't make it halfway before Erasers were trying to get me down.

By this point, the Erasers that had been pursuing me down the hallway had caught up with me. They entered the room, and I seen in their eyes that they wanted me dead. They all came at me full force, hitting me in every way possible. I didn't try to deflect their hits, I simply tried to take out as many as I could, and didn't waste time trying to incapacitate them. If they were out for blood, so was I.

I fought for an immeasurable amount of time, knowing that we were not going to win this fight, unless something drastic happened. Nothing did, and eventually I heard Gazzy cry out, and seen him fall beside me.

Terror pierced my iron shield to block my emotions, letting out the flood that I had been holding back. I lost my senses, and raced for him. I never made it to him.

Iggy's pov

I awoke with the feeling of fright. Trying to decide what woke me, I heard it again. A gunshot, from above me. One floor, maybe two above me, a gun was being discharged. Then I heard the racing footsteps. They were Max's pattern of running. Max was being shot at!

I tried to stand up, but found my hands to be tied behind my back. My feet too were bound. I felt something pulling at my cheeks, telling me that I had something in my mouth keeping me from talking. I opened my mouth as much as I could, and the sound told me it was some kind of cloth.

It took me a moment to remember how I'd gotten here. How I'd become bound and gagged in some unfamiliar room. When I remembered, it renewed my scramble to escape. The Erasers had found us. Broken into the room, and taken everyone.

My body ached as I pulled at my restraints and I felt the bruises left by a beating I didn't remember. I tried to rip the bindings, but realized that was not going to work. I moved my fingers, feeling the binding. I deduced that it was duct tape.

I would not be ripping it any time soon, my simply pulling. I had to rip it. Or cut it. I lay down, stretching out as best I could in this confined area, down onto my back. I pulled my hands behind my back, lower and lower until they were almost under my butt I'd be able to have them in front of me. Almost there.

My shoulders wouldn't allow me to pull them any further down without messing up the joints. I could still hear the footsteps running above me, now many more sets. Heavy sets chasing the light fluttery steps. And more gunshots. Max was in trouble. I had to get out. She needed help.

I gave an almighty tug on my shoulder, and felt it pop out of place. The wave of pain that followed seemed to increase with every beat of my heart, but I knew it had to be done. My hands slid behind my butt, and down my legs. My hands were in front of me, and I could get out. I reached for my face, pulling the cloth from my mouth. They hadn't bothered to cover my eyes.

I lay back down, on my stomach. Biting my lip, I slammed my shoulder that I had popped out of place onto the floor. The noise it made was nothing more than a mere thud, but it felt like a knife had pierced me. The ripping pain popped my shoulder back into place, painfully, yet effectively.

I rolled back over, and sat up, bringing my feet to me. I felt for the tape ending, where the last layer ended, giving me something to rip from. I felt the little ridge that told me this was the end of the final circuit around my ankles, and dug with my nails at it. I got a tab large enough to pull, and pulled slowly enough to not make much noise, and pulled it from my ankles. I untwisted it, releasing my ankles from the tape. My hands were still bound, and I tried to dig at that with my nails, not able to reach it very well.

I heard a scream I knew all too well. Gazzy had just screamed. I heard a thump, what I assumed was him falling to the ground. I made the decision to abandon my hands and leave them tied, and try to get out of here. I hopped up, and took a step forward. My upper calves hit something, and I fell forward, onto a cold floor. I threw my hands out to catch myself, but I ended up falling onto my elbows.

The thud I made announced that I was awake. The noise from outside my room stopped, and I heard the cloth move as an Eraser stood up. He walked for the door, and I hardly had time to stand up before he opened the door. I linked my fingers together, and as soon as I heard the creak of the door opening, I swung with everything I was worth.

My fists collided with his face, knocking him to the ground. The sounds around me told me that another had taken his place. I swung for him, too, and hit my mark. I hit his throat, and I felt the hyoid bone break with the force of my hit. He fell to the ground, and I heard him gasping for breath. I made several sounds to gather my surroundings, and I noticed that I was in a small room. I stepped forward, careful to avoid the gasping Eraser on the ground. I kept my hands linked together, and swung them like a bat. The first time I swung, I had a target. I hit the face of an Eraser and felt his nose break.

The second time I swung, I was just trying to take out something. My hands flew through the air and collided with something utterly solid. I felt my bone shatter, my knuckles break, as I hit the wall, missing my target. The pain was excruciating, taking up my whole mind and filling it with pain.

I allowed a split second of pain, and then I concentrated on the fight at hand. I had deduced by now that I was far outnumbered. I swung my fists wildly, and at one point I nearly knocked myself over when I missed my target.

When I was running low on energy, I felt a solid punch hit my face. I stumbled back several steps, and right into the arms of an awaiting Eraser. I spun around, just as he made to hit me, and locked my hands around the back of his neck, holding him close to me. I brought my head back and slammed the top of my head into his nose. The hardest part of my body, into the softest of his. Then I kneed him where it really counts, and he dropped like a fly. I fought for as long as I could.

As long as I could, was not long enough.

Fang's pov

I had been awake for several moments before I heard the sounds of struggle from below me. I heard Gazzy fighting first. Then I heard gunshots, and shouting. Then Max joined him. Soon, both were silent.

When I heard no more noise, I began to think the worst. I scrambled to break my bonds, but couldn't do it.

I sat for a moment, thinking about how I could escape. I already knew that I was duct taped, from the feel of it on my skin, so I knew that I couldn't rip it.

I pulled the cloth from over my eyes, using my knees, and looked around. Nothing in here would help me. I looked to my feet, feeling dejected. Then I saw the shoelaces….

I lay down, and pulled my arms under my butt, stretching my arms more than they had ever been stretched before, nearly having to pull the joints out of their sockets, until they were down past my butt and under my legs. I grabbed my shoes, and untied the laces, hastily. I pulled the shoelaces from the shoes.

When I had them undone, I grabbed the end of the lace; where the plastic covered the lace. I pulled my knees to my chest, and leaned forward towards my feet. Using my fingers, I shoved the lace in between my ankles, trying not to get it caught on the tape. After a few tries, I succeeded.

I grabbed the lace, which had half sticking from the top, and half from the bottom. I grabbed the two ends, and began to pull one way, then the other as fast as I could. I heard the friction as it was made, heating up slowly. After a short while, the laces had made enough friction to burn through the duct tape.

The final sounds as it burned through was a quiet sound, but an anticipated one. I ripped the tape from my ankles, and grabbed the shoelaces. Lifting my hands above my head, so as to allow gravity to assist me, I pulled my wrists as far apart as I could, and dropped the lace through the small opening created between my flesh. It fell through, with little coaxing.

When half was above the tape, and half below it, I tied little circles big enough to tie onto my toes. I tied the top section of the lace to my right big toe and the bottom to my left big toe. Then I began to move my legs as if I was peddling a bike. The friction burned through this duct tape in only a brief few seconds. I ripped the tape from my wrist, and jumped up, kicking off my shoes.

Then I shouted out in a language not yet known. The Erasers immediately kicked open the door and I attacked. I was able to take out two before even the others were off their butts.

I grabbed a lamp sitting on the bedside table and smashed it down onto the head of an Eraser, and he crumpled. I ripped the bedspread from the bed, and threw it over the heads of two Erasers. I grabbed the chair that was near the desk, and swung it through the air, smashing the heads of the Erasers under the blanket. They both fell to the ground and I jumped on top of one. My hands flew to his waist, feeling for a gun.

I found none, so I moved to the next Eraser. I found a gun, and just as I unhooked it from his belt, I felt a kick on my backside. I fell forward, but held onto the gun.

I felt it's weight in my hand, and knew it was loaded. So I aimed at the Eraser who had just kicked me, and I fired. The shot went just next to his ear, missing him. He shouted, and I fired again. I was splattered with his filthy blood, and he dropped to the ground. More shouts rang out, and I fired the rest of the clip, taking out every Eraser I could.

By this point, the three remaining Erasers were firing upon me. I dropped to the floor, and rolled. I smashed the hilt of the gun into the knee of an Eraser, and he dropped the gun and grabbed his knee. I snatched the gun, and fired at the two Erasers still shooting. They dropped.

I turned and ran for the door. I was not followed, and I raced down the hall for a way to go down a floor.

I raced down the steps, and vaguely realized that it was this very same staircase that I had been with Max in, mere hours previously. I reached the floor below me, and raced down the hall, for the end that I had been on when I heard the noises.

I kicked doors in, not missing one, and finding room after room empty. Before I reached the door that Max and others were behind, the door opened. A fully transformed Eraser greeted me. I aimed the gun, and shot him, on instinct. He dropped to the ground, and I raced for that room, and looked inside. Erasers were gathered there, and on the floor Max and Gazzy lay bloody and beaten.

I fired the gun at the Erasers closest to Max and Gazzy, dropping them like flies. When I pulled the trigger again, nothing happened. I was out of bullets.

I didn't stop to think, and I threw the gun at the nearest Erasers, hitting him in the face. He grunted, and charged at me. The other Erasers closed in on me, there had to be twenty of them, and all came in swinging.

Every now and then, I'd catch a glimpse of either Max or Gazzy, and I'd have more strength to keep fighting. I'd think of Angel and Nudge and Iggy, wondering how they were doing. Wondering if they had done any better than us. I fought for so long I was sure that weeks had passed. My muscles burned, and my eyes had swollen shut. Finally I felt my brain beginning to shut down. It couldn't process this.

I fought it, trying to stay fighting, but eventually I realized it was a lost cause. Since I'd lost the gun, I'd taken out only two or three Erasers. And more had flooded in.

I lifted my leg into a high kick, and as I found my target. I kicked his head, and he stumbled backwards. Two more stepped up to take his place and as I spun around to defend myself, I felt a brick wall collide with my face.

The last thing I saw was the hair hand and claws of an Eraser grinning down on me, with his sick twisted face, as he knew that I was about to fall. I tried to stand, but my strength had failed me. Blackness took me.

**A/N Alrighty guys. It's hard to write the escapeing form duct tape thing, but that's the best I can do. I tried it myself, many many times. The razor thing i've tried too, and i still have healing cuts from when i cut myself trying to get out, and from when my friend accidentlally cut me trying to free me. the marks are still on my hands from the duct tape abratting on my skin.... this all is from 9 days ago. so yeah, i practiced how to do this so i'd be able to write it better. hopefully it meets the quality standards. **

**Also, major action in this chatper. Makes up for the total sappiness of last chapter. hope you all enjoy!**


	47. Attempted Breaking

Chapter 46

Max's pov

The moment I woke up, I felt the moment of panic that lasted until the moment I fell into a restless sleep. It had been nearly a week, or so I guessed as we had all had 7 long sleeps since we came, since we had been captured. On the ride here, which was quite long, telling me that we were not in any Itex branches close to Canada, they Erasers hadn't treated us the best, giving us random kicks whenever they felt the urge to do so. Apparently, we all had put up one helluva fight. Gazzy had burned through his binds, using a rather… primitive method (that method involving the reason for which he was named as he was). Fang also burned through his bonds, using his shoelaces to create the friction necessary to do so, and Iggy had kept his bonds on, but put his arms in front of him, using his hands like a club. Nudge had simply kicked wildly when they tried to get her to come with them, kicking with enough force in more than one case to break the necks of the Erasers. She had gotten overpowered, and simply focused every bit of her energy into not allowing the metal on the door to open, but magnetizing the bolt into the frame, keeping it shut. That worked only until the Erasers ripped the door from the hinges. Total even fought. They shaved his hair off, even the feathers on his small wings, and reverse hog-tied him, forcing him to be immobile. He was in his own room, though it seemed that he was less heavily guarded. He bit at any who got close to him, not allowing them to touch him. Angel, my baby, could do nothing. The Erasers did not respond to her mind tactics, leaving her as the physically least powerful, with none of her extra abilities to help her. She was hurt the worst. We were expecting the worst when we got her, as punishment.

So far, we had been relatively lucky. They had done nothing horrendous to us, mostly taken vitals, or blood samples, or other harmless things.

But, one day this changed. They took me first, which I was more than pleased about. Maybe they would leave the others alone. Before I left, I seen the petrified faces of my flock, questioning the same thing I was. Would I be ok? And then they put a mask on me, one that allowed me to have a hole for my mouth, and two for my eyes, though the holes severely limited my vision. My hands were kept behind my backs, tied there with a nylon rope, from the feel of it. I was lead down hallway after hallway, always cataloguing where I was going, just in case I needed to get to the others in a hurry.

Finally, I reached my apparent destination. I was lead to a room with a chair that was very tall, and seemed sturdy enough that an elephant could sit on it and cause no damage. A bright white light over hung this chair, and the rest of the room was in shadows. I looked upon the sight with relief. No surgical tools. I would walk out of here, today.

Then I was forced into sitting down, and my legs were handcuffed together, and to the chair with a different shaped cuff than I'd ever seen before, and my hands were similarly done behind my back. I asked no questions, refusing to allow any sign of anything other than nothingness show. After I was secured to the chair, the men who had led me there left. I was left alone.

Thoughts raced through my mind, and I wondered what was going on. For what seemed like forever, I sat in that room. The shadows that lurked throughout the room seemed to come alive, taunting me, telling me that they knew what was coming, and I did not.

Finally, the door opened. A man in a white coat walked in, and my stomach heaved. This man was so familiar to me, but I did not know how. It seemed a face that I would never forget, though. When he spoke, it was as if his voice grated against his throat as it came from him.

"You have been in here exactly 55 minutes. It seemed far longer, did it not?" he asked me, with his grating voice.

I said nothing. He marked something down. "This is a not a test. It has been decided that you will be broken, that you will be made to properly function. Is this clear?"

Again I said nothing, though my mind laughed. Properly function? Fat chance of that!

"In this portion of your breaking, you will be made to feel destitute. You are made aware of this fact, simply so that you do not feel as if we have abandoned you. We are here for you, to help you and save you, as soon as you promise to work for us. This will last as long as it is felt necessary, understand?" he did not pause to wait for my answer. "Good. Begin" he said, and he backed out of the room.

As he got close to the door, it opened, and cookie-cutter and would be- handsome men walked in. Erasers, in their fully human form. I didn't allow my fear, nor my confusion to show on my face. I kept it blank.

One approached me, with a leering look on his face. He raised his fist back, and swung it forward. Only a moment before it collided with me, I turned my head to the side, giving the collision a glancing effect, so it didn't find the perfect purchase necessary to knock me out.

Pain still was present, and it exploded in my head. I forced myself to keep my eyes open, not shutting them to block the pain. I looked the Erasers dead on as he pulled his fist back again, and swung. This swing had a minute amount of less force behind it, and it hit in that perfect angle to knock me out. But he knew what he was doing. He used just enough force that I would not be knocked out. I began to see what they were doing.

This time, when he aimed to hit me, he aimed not for my head, but for my midsection. He hit me once, twice, three times, and I was breathless. I was trying to fill my lungs, but it seemed as if they were rejecting me, angry that I was subjecting them to this, and they wouldn't accept the air. I wheezed, unable to catch my breath. But the Eraser did not slow.

After a few more hits, I allowed my eyes to close as I panted. As soon as they did, a whooping sound filled the darkened area, happy sounding, and more fists seemed to attack me. Hand after hand punched me, kicked me, anything that caused me pain.

I forced myself to think of a happy place, a place where pain wasn't there. The first thing that came to mind was me with Fang. I sat with him, leaning on a bench, overlooking the ocean off a cliff. The kids and Iggy and Nudge were jumping over the cliff, and propelling themselves into the water. The sounds of their laughs reached us every so often, reminding us that they were safe and happy.

Every few hits, one would be hard enough to tear me from my happy place, make the vision go a little fuzzy, but never did it disappear. I began to fade into my vision; with every hit the vision became clearer.

Eventually, my happy place was no longer required. I allowed my concentration to fade, allowed myself to come back to the real world, the world of pain. My eyes opened, and I was alone. The door shut just as my eyes focused, and the room was again empty.

Taking stock of my surroundings was unnecessary; I knew what they looked like. It was my body that needed assessment. I began with tightening my jaw, and the pain was immense. There was something wrong with my jaw. Probably nothing more than a bruised bone, considering that I could move it. I twitched my nose. It was for sure broken. I found myself getting angry about that, it was three times in a week that it had been broken. Moving on, I flexed every major muscle that I could.

My abdomen was definitely in bad shape. It ached so bad breathing hurt, and I couldn't twist from side to side. I couldn't flex the muscles at all, couldn't even take a deep breath or the pain was so bad I thought I was going to throw up.

After I took stock of my body, I was left with nothing to do but sit alone with my thoughts. My bonds still held me tightly, and I didn't have the strength in my middle section to pull with my arms. So the shadows began to taunt me again.

I filled my mind with thoughts. Thoughts of my flock, if they were ok, or if they were going through exactly what I was. My mind rejected that thought, pushed it away stronger than it pushed anything else away. The thought of Angel tied to a chair getting beaten was an image that my mind couldn't bare.

I thought of back when we lived in the E-House and Angel was innocent, and sweet, and untainted by the horrors of our lives. That was what seemed like eons ago. Now, she was cold and hard, only letting her sweet side show on a rare occasion, because she seen it as a weakness. She had tried to be tough. And she was tough. She was definitely her brother's sister.

Gaz was one of the toughest kids I'd met. When I was his age, I had Jeb to rely on. Sure, we went through some hard periods. But I had relied on Jeb. Now, Gazzy relied on no one. He could take care of himself, if he needed too. He had keen instincts, and knew who to trust and who not to trust. He was smart, street wise.

As my mind passed from topic to topic, time also passed. I didn't know it at the time, but the Erasers had been with me beating me to the point of bare consciousness for one hour. Five minutes longer than I'd been sitting alone staring around the room. After the first beating, I sat in the room for one hour and five minutes; five minutes longer than I'd been beaten. The Erasers were given strict instructions not to say a word to me, and to make sure that I was awake the whole time. They were to be in the room with make, inflicting pain, for five minutes longer than they left me alone, and they were to leave me alone for five minutes longer than they'd beaten me the time before. It was to be drawn out as long as it needed to be. When I began to look desperate, one was to instruct me that if I surrendered, I would be healed, and the pain would leave me.

But, as I hadn't known that at the time, the only thing I knew was that once the Erasers finally came back, it seemed as if forever had passed. They seemed to be looking at me in expectation, and were pleased when they didn't find whatever they had been scrutinizing me for. He walked up with no words, a different one that before, and punched me square in the chest, right in the sensitive-V, knocking the wind from me right to begin with, and leaving me parched for air. For seemingly hours on end they hit me, until I was sure that I was going to die, simply from being. Every time I tired going to my happy place, a hit so jarring I couldn't ignore it would yank me back. It seemed as if every time I was too severely hurt, though; they would slow the hits down to a point of mere annoyance until I would be able to withstand them again. Finally, they left me alone again.

In my alone time, my mind began to think more and more dangerous and dark thoughts, seemingly beyond my control.

The cycle of beatings continued for an immeasurable amount of time, whilst my pain got higher and higher with every passing moment. Finally, when my skin seemed to reject my muscle, and my muscle rejected my bone, and my bones rejected my body, and by body was about to tear itself a part due to pain, the familiar looking man walked back in, and observed me for a brief moment before speaking.

"Why do you fight it? What is it in you that makes you so sure that what we are doing is wrong?" he asked me, looking quizzically at me.

I couldn't help it. I made my first conscious sound. It was a snort. "That what your doing is wrong? You think it's RIGHT to beat someone for no reason? Think it's RIGHT to kidnap a child and put her in terrible conditions, and scare her? You think that's RIGHT?" I asked him.

His head tilted. Then he smiled. "I understand. You are simply ignorant. It is not like you see it," he said, with an air of superiority that I was only now beginning to recognize. "I shall explain it to you, so that you may understand.

"Before us, science was nothing. It began about 60 years ago, during the Second World War. There was a brilliant doctor, then, who had ideas further than any we could imagine. He had an image. He realized that for the purpose of human advancement, it would do no harm for certain…less worthy individuals to be harmed. Their deaths would create such opportunity for others! It would be selfish for them not to WANT to help this man out! But they resisted, showing how little their character was. This man was doctor Mengele. He began Itex, founded it, and created it from the bottom up.

"He showed us that for a small price humans could be made so much better. He accomplished such great things, with such primeval tools and technology it is laughable to us now. If you skip ahead to modern times, you can see how much this one mans great thoughts did for human society. We have the potential to cure even the most deadly diseases, should we find it necessary. Do you see, now, why the sacrifice of some is necessary for the overall advancement of others?" He finished his long monologue, seeming proud of his transforming me.

I, however, wanted to throw up. This man seriously believed in what he did. He didn't think he was wrong, and this doctor that he spoke of, I had heard of before. I didn't know where, but I only knew that what I had heard was horrifically terrible. He didn't benefit humans in the slightest. He mangled them, for his own purposes.

"The only thing I see is how this whole freakin' place needs to blow up, too kill all you wack-jobs off! You're sick!" I shouted at him.

His hand flew back, and slapped my straight across the face. "No! You didn't listen to me!" his slap had been hard, for a mere human, placed in a way that told me he was not unaccustomed to those types of hits.

A small dribble of blood sank into my mouth, from a previously wounded part of my lips. I gathered up all the spit and blood in my mouth that I could, and heaved a great spit at him, aiming for his face.

I missed his face, but still managed to hit his chest. His face turned beat red, and he pulled his hand back again, slapping me. I sneered at him, past the point of wincing as his hand hit the parts of my mouth that felt as though pain would rip them from my face.

"You're a sick being who is drunk of his power, and thinks he has the right to do this to a human! You're wrong, you don't! And you don't help anyone, you don't cure anyone!"

His sneer matched mine, and his voice was even more gravelly now that he was angry. "Before our workers developed this technology, the most scientists could do was splice a bit of one thing into a single celled organism. Imagine what it took to isolate the amount of genes to make you what you are?"

"If you're so smart, why did you have to make us to fix all your problems? That's why you created us, inst it? To solve the problems created by people?" I prodded, angering him further.

"Thousands of traits were changed in you," he continued as if he hadn't heard me, "feather size, color, shape, location, pattern, placement, type, everything. For every feather. Imagine what it took to make you. Imagine!" he said, gleeful at the prospect.

"I don't want to imagine. How many cannot imagine, how many did you take away that ability? How many did you kill?" I asked him, trying to make him see my point, though knowing it was a fruitless attempt.

"We never killed any that it was not necessary. None died that didn't die for the greater purpose." Was his cool and seemingly drilled into his head response.

"You don't get it! Our body has some bird, yes, but our mind is human! We have thoughts, feelings, emotions, everything that you have, except the luxury to be free! We are _human_! You are killing a person!" I shouted at him, angry as hell that he didn't seem to understand, and that he was certain that he was right.

Again his hand flew out, but this time not to slap me. His hand grabbed my hair, yanking my head back as he leered in my face. He began to yell into my face, his spit flying out of his mouth, but I paid that no attention.

I recognized this man. His face had been on a crumpled up piece of paper in my backpack for months. His face had been the face that haunted a man I had only met on one occasion for many years. This man was Ajax.

I whispered his name, unconsciously, and his grip loosened. "What did you call me?" he asked in a far quieter tone that I'd heard him use previously. When I didn't answer, he repeated his question, screaming at me.

"Ajax. I called you Ajax, you…you… asshole!" I screamed at the top of my lungs into his face, and began to struggle like I never had before to escape my bonds, so I could kill this man who had killed and ruined lives before. The rage I felt for him was unparalleled in a person whom I'd never before met. My eyes seemed to lid over with rage, and he was the only thing I could see. I wanted more than anything to end his life. That was a scary feeling, to want to end his life, but it was one that I felt no guilt over. He felt no guilt.

"Enough!" he shouted once again, and then he calmly explained to me something that was nearly beyond my comprehension. I would not see my flock again until I submitted to Itex's will and became an, in essence, assassin. I was told they were not being harmed, so long as I cooperated. I was also told that should I agree, I would see them once more, before the means of tracking us was disabled and they would be free. Really free; according to this filthy excuse for a man. I didn't believe him, but the thought was still planted in my head. Which was why I had went through everything I had in the last hours… they wanted me to think about giving in.

I will not lie, the thought crossed my mind many, many times in the next hours, and next days. The same treatment seemed to exist for me. Beating, then resting, then beating, for longer each time. This time, no one came in to speak with me. Three times a day I was let loose from the chair, and dragged- for I could not walk on my own- to a bucket where I was permitted to take care of my business in. I was then given water, and enough food to sustain me, but not enough to fill me up. Water, however, I was given as much as I could drink. That first day, I made the mistake of eating, then drinking enough water to fill me up. When the first Erasers came in, I was sick on them, for my stomach had not enough time to digest my food.

I told myself that you do not give into pain, you simply adjust to it, time and time again I repeated it like a mantra in my head. No matter how much I told this to myself, though, the pain got to me. The silence and being cut off from the world got to me. I was being slowly driven crazy. My happy place seemed to fade into nonexistance, becoming bleaker and bleaker as the days passed, and nearly non-existant. I could not escape the pain they caused me.

One thought, and one thing only kept me sane. I had made a promise, which I took extremely seriously; to a man I met only once. I had promised to Buck that I would bring him Ajax. That promise was to be altered, as Ajax may not be alive when brought to Buck, as was the original plan, but Buck would see peace. I would kill Ajax for what he had done, for what he was doing, and for what he would do if he was not stopped. I would stop him.

**A/N Sorry about the long wait. **

**Anyhow, for a recap, buck was a guy that the flock met when traveling who opened up to them and told them about how his sister and been beaten and murdered by a man named Ajax. before he could be arrested, Ajax left, leaving no trail. Max has just found him, working for Itex. As a Whitecoat. So, yeah. That's your recap. and for those of you who dont know, Mengele was a doctor during WWII and he expirimented on twins and pregnant women who were in Death camps, or concentration camps. There are tons of horror stories about him, so i figured this one was fitting as to be part of Itex. So that was where that came from. review if you feel the need, but no one seems to anymore, so w/e**


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